THE IRISH REPUBLIC 



HISTORICAL MEMOIR 



ON 



IHELAND AND HER OP.PRES 



ijUilO, 



By p. GUDMORE, ESQ., 

COUNSELLOR AT LAW. 



SAINT PAUL: 
PIONEER PRINTING COMPANY, 

18 7 1. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, 

By p. CUDMORE. 

In the OflBce of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



PREFACE 



The object of the author in presenting this volume to 
the public, has been to give iii one volume a condensed 
sketch of the wrongs, grievances and misgovernment of 
Ireland under British despotism, the colonial tyrants of the 
pale, and the tyrannical landlords of Ireland. To ]3lace be- 
fore the world the wrongs of Ireland, under British despot- 
ism and misrule, since the time of Henry 11. to the present. 
Those who have neither time nor opportunity to read the 
standard works on Ireland, will, the author hopes, find in 
this volume an interesting outline of the political history 
of Ireland from the early ages to the present ; and those 
who have read the standard histories of Ireland will find 
this volume a useful and convenient manual as a book of 
reference. This volume has been carefully compiled from 
the most approved standard authors, ancient and modern, 
lay and clerical. The author has, in some instances, given 
the exact language of the authors themselves. This, he 
presumes, will give more satisfaction to his readers. The 
author confidently hopes that this volume will be welcomed 
by every Irish patriot ; and that Irishmen in the United 
States will send it to their friends in Ireland, England, 
Scotland, the British Possessions, and Australia. 

April, 1871. 



DEDICATION 



TO 

IRISH PATRIOTS, STATESMEN, WARRIORS, 
AND EXILES; 

AIS'D TO THE MEMORY OF THE IMMORTAL DEAD, 
WHO FOUGHT FOR THE 

LIBERTY AND INDEPENDENCE OP IRELAND, 

THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, 
BY THE AUTHOR. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Ireland has been known to the ancients. The Phoenici- 
ans made frequent voyages to Ireland, in remote ages. At 
a very early period of the world's histofy, Ireland was 
known to the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. In the early 
ages it was known to the pagan world as the Sahred Island^ 
and as the chief seat of the Druids. The people of Ire- 
land in all ages were distinguished for their valor, hospital- 
ity and generosity, as well as for the eminent learning of 
the bards in pagan times — and for piety, learning and Chris- 
tianity in modern times. In the days when Europe was 
enveloped in darkness and ignorance, Ireland was known 
to the world as the Isle of Saints. 

But the great source of Ireland's weakness, and of those 
sad divisions which agitated and weakened the Irish people, 
resulted from their form of government. After the Milesi- 
ans got 'possession of Ireland, they at first divided the 
country into two rival kingdoms, and afterwards into five 
kingdoms. Those five kingdoms were governed by one 
monarch. Both the monarch and the provincial kings were 
elected from certain great ruling families. This stimulated 
ambition, jealousy, envy and rivalry among the branches 
of the families of the ruling princes of the provinces, as 
well as a strife among the provincial kings for the high, 
dignity — that of monarch of Ireland. From this source we 
may trace the countless wars in Ireland between rival 



INTROBUCriON. 

kings and provinces, which devastated the country and 
divided and weakened the nation. Had the Irish people 
been united under one ruler, as one united nation, with the 
rulers elected from the people, as in the United States, 
they could not be conquered by Danes, Normans or Saxons ! 
Another source of the weakness of Ireland was, that she 
had not contended with foreign foes before the invasion of 
the Danes. The Iris, were unacquainted with the Roman 
mode of fighting within walled towns ; their battles were 
fought in the open field. The fate of their kings generally 
rested on the result of one of their pitched battles in hand- 
to-hand fighting; consequently, they were unacquainted 
with sieges. The Norman invaders took advantage of the 
divisions and mutual rival jealousy of the Irish kings and 
princes. Had these princes been united they could not 
be conquered by the Norman invaders. The government 
of England did not try to unite the people of Ireland, na- 
five or Saxon. But she done all in her power to prevent 
the English of the pale from uniting with the old Irish in- 
habitants, for she dreaded that the old Irish and the new 
English settlers would become one people, that in a few 
years could defy the government of England ; for the 
descendants of the first Norman invaders, in many in- 
stances, had united with the old Irish by marriage, and had 
become " more Irish than the Irish thejnselves.'''' To pre- 
vent this union, the English government sent, from time to 
time, over to Ireland English officers to govern the pale. 
In this manner the authorities of the pale became the jail- 
ers of the colony. In this manner England created a gulf 
of hate between the " colony hred men " and the old Irish 
natives. But in the times of Henry VIIL, Elizabeth and 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

Cromwell, Catholic and Protestant became the line of de- 
marcation between the Irish ! 

In the reign of William III. the Catholics were excluded 
from the Irish parliament. In this reign and that of Queen 
Anne, the Catholics, under the terrors of the penal code, 
were put outside of the pale of the laws ; they were ex- 
cluded from all offices, civil and military. They had no 
voice in the government — they were excluded from the 
legal profession — they could not own real estate. They 
were denied the free exercise of their religion, and were 
not allowed to be educated. In short, they had no rights, 
under the laws, which the government or the colonial 
tyrants would respect. This was the condition of the 
Catholic Irish during the terrors of the penal code, Ire- 
land was governed by a mere contemptible minority. 
This petty faction held a monopoly of church and state — 
the purse and the sword. Ireland was doomed to suifer 
in the sunshine of British prosperity, when the British 
flag triumphed over the seas of the world. But in the 
hour of British discomfiture, when the British flag was pull- 
ed down at Saratoga, then, and only until then, did the 
colonial jailers relax the odious penal code, when they 
granted the first Catholic relief bill, in 1778, which gave 
the Catholics a right to lease lands for a term of 999 year's. 
The second Catholic relief bill was granted in 1782, which 
gave Catholics the right to open Catholic schools in Ire- 
land, and to acquire freehold estates. The third Catholic 
relief bill was passed in 1793, which gave Catholics the 
right to hold offices in the army as high as colonel, as also 
the right to practice in the courts ; it also extended to Cath- 
olics the elective franchise. These relief bills stimulated 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

the Catholics to agitate for Catholic emancipation. The 
agitation for emancipation stimulated the agitation for the 
repeal of the union. The " Repealers " gave birth to the 
'■'■ Young Ireland'''' party of '48. And the agitation of 
" '48 " promoted the Fenian organization. 

This opposition to England from generation to generation 
under one name or other, has gained for Ireland many con- 
cessions from the government of England. But the Fenian 
organization in Ireland, England, and the United States, 
and the Clerkenwell prison explosion, so terrified the British 
oligarchy that they consented to the disendowment of the 
"Irish Church establishment" — the death of the tithes. 
During the Franco-Prussian war England passed an act, a 
mere apology for a " tenant right hill^'' in 1870. Thus, 
step by step, Ireland gained one concession after another 
during England's difficulties. In this manner Ireland will 
eventually gain her independence ! 

The liberal Democrats of England should unite with the 
Irish j)atriots and abolish the House of Lords, and make all 
officers in the government elective, as in the United States. 
The next step should be to demolish both royalty and no- 
bility. After this the people would soon establish an En- 
glish Republic. And the English j)eople should give Ire- 
land her liberty, and be one of the first nations to recognize 
the Irish Republic. Let them do this, and Irishmen will 
forget the dark deeds of the past. 

The Irish, in every clime, should keep up the agitation 
for the freedom of Ireland until Ireland is free— until the 
world beholds the Irish Republic ! ! ! 



A HISTORICAL MEMOIR 



ON 



IRELAID AID HER OPPRESSORS. 



CHAPTER I. 

IRELAND BEFORE THE INTRODUCTION OP CHRISTIANITY. 

The falsehoods of the English historians of the pale — L}^- 
ing Cambrensis — His attempt to cast doubt and ridicule 
on the ancient history of Ireland— Manuscripts in the 
Irish language date back before the christian era — The 
falsehoods of Hume and Gibbon — Glory and greatness 
of the Irish nation — Her progress in arts and sciences — 
Ancient Irish writings — The learning of the Druids — The 
round towers — Druidic altars — Ancient Irish architecture 
— Irish civilization — Colonial task-masters — Ireland the 
instructress of Europe — Partholan — Ireland discovered 
before the deluge — The ancient names of Ireland— The 
natives — When and bj^ whom Ireland \ta.s settled — The 
Milesian race — Progress of civilization under the Mile- 
sian kings — The reign of Ollam Fodla — The conven- 
tions of Tara — Seminaries of learning — The Druids — 
Bards and Brehons — ^The equity of the Brehon laws. 

The English historians of the pale, since the time of the 
lying Cambrensis, have studiously endeavored to cast 
doubt and ridicule on the ancient history of Ireland. They 
tell us that the Irish, before the time of St. Patrick, were 
cruel, ignorant, and barbarous. That they were unlettered. 



10 THE IRISH REPUBLIC, 

They make the bold and sweeping assertion that the Irish 
were unacquainted with the use of letters previous to the 
introduction of Latin letters by the Apostle of Ireland, yet 
we have several manuscripts in the Irish language, which 
date back before the Christian era. They also tell us that 
the historical accounts of the venerable Irish historians — 
the O'Connors, O'Halloran, Vallancey, O'Flalierty, and 
Keating, are the mere fictions of the Irish bards — tales of 
a vainglorious people. Even the eminent historians of 
England, Hume and Gibbon, have copied the lying fictions 
and wholesale and unfounded slanderous assertions of the 
partisan historians of the pale. They unblushingly tell us 
that Ireland owes her civilization to England. That the 
records and researches of the Irish historians should be 
rejected.. Unfortunately for Irishrnen, tlie writings of 
English historians are taken for good authority in the 
United States. So the history of Ireland is read tlirough 
the medium of prejudiced British historians. 

Now, let us for a moment consider how we can prove 
the authenticity of the ancient history of Ireland, even 
without written evidence, but from the monuments of arts, 
sciences, and architecture, which we find in Ireland, How 
futile it would be to deny the ancient civilization of Egypt, 
Greece or Eome. Can we obliterate, by a mere stroke of 
the pen, the Egyptian pyramids, subterranean temples, 
artificial lakes, the S^jhinx, and the monuments of arts and 
sciences? Could the remains of the ancient palaces, tem- 
ples and aqueducts of Rome be obliterated by mere asser- 
tion ? How, then, could the lying historians, the colonial 
historians, and English partisan writers, doubt of the an- 
cient fame, glory, and greatness of the Irish nation — her 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 11 

progress in the arts and sciences. Such assertions are 
malicious falsehoods. The Irish historian is verified by the 
ancient writings found in old Irish manuscripts ; the great 
learning of the Druids ; the monuments of ancient arts and 
sciences. We can, notwithstanding the vile aspersions and 
falsehoods of Hume and Macaulay, proudly point to the 
living monuments of Ireland's ancient greatness, and fame, 
land glory. We behold with laudable pride the round tow- 
ers, Druidic altars, ruined, ivy-clad castles, churches and 
palaces — lying historians to the contrary, notwithstanding ! 

Let any dispassionate and unprejudiced mind travel 
through Ireland, and behold her ancient architecture, of 
Egyptian style, and then doubt of the ancient grandeur, 
glory, greatness, and civilization of Ireland ! The ancient 
and venerable monuments of our dear fatherland refute 
the slanders of British and colonial writers ! 

The mean understanding of the colonial task-masters, 
conceived that the only way to subdue Ireland, was first to 
rob her of her wealth and lands, to wield over her a rod of 
iron, and then to blacken her character as a justification of 
their tyrannical conduct. Those colonial usurpers and in- 
vaders could never feel secure in their ill-gotten possessions 
until all traces of the ancient glory and fame of Ireland 
was obliterated ; for they well knew" that Irishmen, in all 
climes, at all times and places, would cherish a fond and 
laudable veneration for that country which, for centuries, 
was the instructress of Europe — the immortal island of 
saints. The Irish can look back with pride and emotion on 
her long list of monarchs, two thousand years before the 
accursed Norman invasion ! 

It is true that the ancient history of all nations reaches 



12 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

back into obscurity, yet some Irish historians prove, beyond 
cavil, that Ireland was discovered before the Deluge, They 
give us a list of kings, such as Partholan and his sons. 
We read of the Numidians, the Firbolgs, and the gigantic 
Fomerians, and the Tuatha de Danans. Ireland has been 
known by the names of Hibernia, Inisfail, Erin, Erne, Iris, 
Jerna, Juernia, Iren, Juverna, Insula Sacra, ' and Scotia. 
The Goths called it Ireland, on account of the fierce and 
warlike spirit of the people — for the warlike and martial 
spirit of the people, ancient and modern, has met with uni- 
versal approbation all over the world ! 

Some Irish historians tell us that Ireland was first settled 
by the Scythians : others tell us that it wa^first discovered 
by the Phoenicians — some assert that Ireland was first dis- 
covered by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Gauls. But certain 
it is that the Milesians, under Heber, Heremon and Ith, 
gave Ireland a race of kings who reigned for two thousand 
years. They had full possession of Ireland down to the 
time of Henry the Second. Under the government of the 
Milesian kings, Ireland advanced in the arts and sciences, 
poetry, music, agriculture, refinement and civilization. 

Those Milesians had with them laborers and mechanics, 
who, with such of the natives as remained after the Mile- 
sians got control of the Island, became the plebeians, with 
whom the Milesians did not intermarry, as they considered 
the Firbolgs and Tuatha de Danans as an inferior race. 
Thus the Milesian race became the rulers of the country. 
They were the nobility. 

In the reign of Ollam Fodla^ triennial conventions were 
held at Tara, in Meath, composed of kings, bards, and 
priests, This celebrated monarch instituted seminaries of 



THE IBISH EEPUBLIC. 13 

learning in various parts of the nation, whose missiona- 
ries spread the knowledge of Christianity over Europe. 
The Druids were the most important personages. They 
were the principal bards and brehons, or judges; they 
administered the laws in the spirit of ec[uity. The bre- 
hon laws were in force until they were abolished by King 
John, within the scope of the pale. The decisions of those 
venerable and time-honored Druids were deemed sacred by 
kings and warriors — for the Irish, in all ages, held poets 
and men of learning in great esteem. At length, the pow- 
er of the Druids had to yield to the influences of Christian- 
ity, under the venerable apostle of Ireland. 



CHAPTER II. 

IRELAND BEFORE THE NORMAN INVASION. 

St. Patrick— Christianity introduced — -Latin letters intro- 
duced-t-The Irish kept the Latin language pure, and sent 
learned men through Europe — The Seminary of Armagh 
— The glory of the Isle of Saints — The slanders of Hume 
— Irish hospitality — No need for inns — Oswald sends to 
Ireland for missionaries, to teach the Saxons Christianity 
— Irish missionaries introduce Christianity into many 
parts of Europe — Alfred brought over Irish professors 
for his Oxford College — Hume and Gibbon copy the 
falsehoods of*the historians of the pale — The kings of 
Northumberland make a descent on Ireland — The Rom- 
ans did not invade Ireland — Danish invasion — Turgesius 
proclaimed king — Barbarities of the invaders — Semina- 
ries and religious houses destroyed — The Danes defeated 
by Malachy and Brian — Clontarf — ^The Ostmen converted 
— The Danes intermarry with the native Irish — The Danes 
who remained in Ireland obeyed the laws of the Irish 
kings^ — The Englisli invaders— Strongbow— The kings of 



14 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

Ireland — Bloody deeds of the invaders — Henry landed 
in Cashel — He did not make any change in the laws of 
Ireland — Henry conferred the title of Lord of Ireland on 
his son John — The kings of England assume the title of 
Kings of Ireland in the reign of Henry VIII. — ^The 
English colony in Ireland divided into counties — Sherilfs 
appointed — Henry's pretext to promote religion — O'Neil's 
letter to Pope John — Bruce invited to rule Ireland as 
King — England hostile to liberty — England feared the 
union of the native Irish with the Norman race — ^The 
ascendency of the party in favor of English interest — 
Edward wrote to his Chief Justice to remove all persons 
from office who had lands in Ireland — Ireland put under 
the control of the ascendency party of the pale — The 
statutes of Kilkenny — It was made a crime to speak 
the Irish language — It was made a crime to entertain the 
Irish bards — An attempt to govern Ireland by English 
laws — Poyning's law — Henry YIII. introduced the system 
of corruption in Ireland — The limits of the pale — Reli- 
gious bigotry — The reign of terror — No compromise — 
The independence of Ireland — Charges against the 
English governments — England must do justice to Ireland 
— The Irish landlords — Absentees — What England must 
do for Ireland — ^The Irish republic — Ireland must be sep- 
arated from England. 

About the year 432, a new era commenced in Ireland, 
by the introduction of Christianity and Latin letters by St. 
Patrick, after whom Ireland can boast of pious and learned 
men, who spread Christianity over Europe. For centuries 
after, Ireland abounded in learned men, and kept the 
Latin language pure, even after Rome herself ceased to 
speak Latin, in the market places. 

While the clouds of darkness and barbarism obscured 
Europe, Ireland had 7,000 students in the seminary of Ar- 
magh alone, who spread through Europe the literature 
and glory of the Isle of Saints. How completely this 
refutes the slanders of Hume and other English historians. 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 15 

Those hirelings would fain make the world believe that the 
Irish were barbarous before the Norman invasion ! 

And this 4n despite the fact that the hospitality of Ire- 
land was enjoined as a religious duty. No family was 
suflfered to change their abode without notice, lest the 
traveler should be disappointed of his expected reception. 
There was no need of inns in a land of such true hospi- 
tality ! As a further proof of the greatness of Ireland, we 
can adduce, from the best of testimony, that Oswald, the 
Saxon king, applied to Ireland for missionaries to teach his 
people Christianity! Irish missionaries founded churches 
and monasteries in France, Italy, England, and Switzer- 
land, Two hundred years before the time of the famous 
Charlemagne, the most learned men were of Ireland. Even 
the great Alfred brouglit over from Ireland professors for 
his Oxford college ! 

Yet we find Hume, and Gibbon, and other English writ- 
ers, who copy the falsehoods of the historians of the pale, 
assert that no credit should be given to what they call the 
tales of the historians of Ireland. So much for English 
falsehood. 

We are told by the venerable Bede, that Egfred, the 
king of Northumberland, made an abortive descent on Ire- 
land, about the year 684. The Romans had meditated an 
invasion of Ireland, but the plan was never put in force. 

About the eighth century, the Danes and Norwegians 
made frequent descents on the coasts of Gaul and Britain ; 
and as they came from the north they were called North- 
men in Gaul ; and as they came from thence east to the 
coast of Britain and Ireland, they were called Ostmen, or 
Eastmen. After frequent descents on the coast of Ireland, 



10 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

the barbarians made some settlements on the coast. Those 
places became afterwards flourishing cities. 

In 825, Turgesius landed in Ireland with a po'il/erful force. 
He pillaged and devastated the country. After some re- 
sistance he was proclaimed monarch of Ireland. The bar- 
barities of those northern invaders are depicted, by the 
historians of the time, in the most pathetic colors, for their 
oppression, cruelty, and great devastation of a highly civil- 
ized and happy country. He destroyed the seminaries of 
learning and religious houses. The most prominent and 
flourishing settlements of the Danes were Dublin, Water- 
ford, Limerick, and Wexford. 

This oppression at length arblised the spirit of the na- 
tion. Malachy and the famous Brian Boreu defeated the 
Danes in several pitched battles. But the most decisive 
battle was that fought at Clontarf, by Brian, which broke 
the power of the Danes in Ireland for ever. Many of the 
Ostmen became Christians, others were united by marriage 
to the native Irish. This caused a mixture of the races, 
which became the bane of Irishmen and Ireland! The 
Ostmen, many of whom were prosperous merchants en- 
gaged in trade, were permitted to live in Dublin, Wexford, 
Waterford, Cork, and Limerick, and other towns. And as 
their descendants embraced the Christian religion, they in 
time, by frequent intermarriages, lost their separate iden- 
tity, as a separate and distinct people. The Christian 
Danes attached themselves to the soil, and obeyed the laws 
of the Irish princes, and marched under their banners. 
They became very wealthy, and paid a large tribute to the 
Irish kings. The Dano-Irish Christians built churches, but 
they preferred their own clergy. Dano-Irish bishops pre- 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 17 

sided over the sees of Waterford, Dublin and Limerick. 
All the towns ending with " ford," or " wick," are all of 
Danish origin. Many of the noble families of Ireland can 
trace their origin back to those fierce invaders — to tliose 
northern warriors who bowed down before the shrine of 
Odin! 

Those invaders broke up the peace and fidelity of the 
Irish, which was followed by self-indulgence, jealousies, 
and self-interest of the now mixed races — which is the con- 
sequence of mixing a Christian and civilized race with a 
pagan and barbarous race. Even where there was no mix- 
ture of the races, the evil example of the Danes had an 
injurious and evil effect on the morals of the ]3eople of 
Ireland. 

After the defeat of the Danes, order, peace and security 
revived. Churches were built, ruined seminaries were 
rebuilt, lands were cultivated, and the laws administered. 

We will now come to the invasion of Ireland, in the time 
of Henry 11., which has caused more woe to Ireland than 
was inflicted by the pagan and barbarous warriors of the 
Baltic. 

The tierce sea-kings, the heroes of Valhalla, saved many 
monuments of art in Ireland, only to be destroyed by the 
christians of England. 

The English invaders of Ireland were outlaws in their 
own country, the illegitimate offsprings of the harlot Nesta, 
a Welsh girl, who had two natural children with Henry the 
First. Those natural children were Robert Fitz-Roy and 
Henry Fitz-Henry. She afterwards married Gerald, con- 
stable of Pembroke, by whom she had Maurice Fitz-Gerald, 
from whom sprung the Geraldines of the House of Kil- 



18 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

dare and Dermond. From this same Welsh lady sprung 
the families of Carews, Geralds, and Fitz-Williams, Graces, 
Fitz-Henries and Fitz -Maurices. Thus the first hordes, 
under Strongbow, were from Wales, and not England. This 
same Strongbow and his principal followers were the off- 
springs of this harlot Nesta ! 

At the time Strongbow landed in Ireland, the country 
was divided into five kingdoms. The whole was governed 
by one monarch, Ulster was governed by the house of 
Hy-Nial; Munster by the O'Brien; Connaught by the 
O'Connor ; Leinster by Dermond M. Murchad, (or M. Mor- 
rough) ; and Breffney by the O'Rourk. Breffney included 
the counties of Oavan and Leitrim. M. Murchad seduced 
O'liourk's wife. For this outrage he was banished from 
his J^ingdom by the united forces of O'Rourk and O'Con- 
nor, the then monarch of Ireland. He fled to England, re- 
paired to Henry, complained of his great misfortune, and im- 
plored the aid of Henry to recover his lost kingdom. He 
promised to recompense the British king by becoming his 
vassal. Henry was too much occupied by the revolt of his 
French subjects, and also in his difficulty with Bishop 
Becket, to go in person to Ireland, but he gave license to 
any of his subjects who would engage in the enterprise, 
and assist Dermond to recover his lost kingdom. By the 
aid of tlie treacherous Dermond, the outlaws, Strongbow 
and Robert Fitz-Steven, landed in Ireland and enacted their 
bloody deeds of cruelty. He landed in Wexford. Those 
bloody invaders desolated the country with fire and sword. 
Though they called themselves christians, they were the 
bloodiest of any invaders known in ancient or modern 
history. Their cruelties were written in characters of 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC, 19 

blood. They knew no law but the law of the sword — the 
strong arm. Those invaders were savage, cruel, unculti- 
vated, ambitious and avaricious adventurers. 

Henry landed in Ireland and assembled a synod of the 
clergy at Cashel, but he did not innovate on the ancient 
laws of Ireland, nor the customs of the people. He did 
not attempt to impose the laws of England on the people 
of Ireland, but left them in the full enjoyment of the Bre- 
hon laws ! 

In 1178, Henry conferred on his son John the title of 
Lord of Ireland, which was the only title assumed by the 
sovereigns of England until the reign of Henry the Eighth, 
who assumed the title of King of Ireland. In the reign of 
King John, the English colony in Ireland was divided into 
counties, and sheriffs and other officers were appointed — 
the great ambition of this monarch being to assimilate the 
laws of the two countries. 

Henry justified his invasion under the specious plea of 
promoting religion, and imparting to Ireland the great 
blessings of English civilization ! The civilization he did 
impart, the reader can best learn from the following letter 
of King O'Neil to Pope John, written in the reign of Ed- 
ward the Second. We make no apology for inserting it 
here. It is as follows : 

'■'• To the most holy father in Christ, Lord John, by the 
grace of God ; his devoted children, Donald O'Neil, King 
of Ulster, and by hereditary right true heir of Ireland, as 
also the chieftains, and nobles, and the people of Ireland, 
recommend themselves most humbly, &c., &c. 

" It is extremely painful to us, that the vicious detractions 
of slanderous Englishmen, and their iniquitous suggestions 



30 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

against the defenders of our rights, should exasperate your 
holiness against the Irish nation, but alas ! you know us 
only by the misrepresentations of our enemies, and you are 
exposed to the danger of adopting the infamous falsehoods 
which they propagate, without hearing anything of the de- 
testable cruelties which they have committed against our 
ancestors, and continue to commit even to this day against 
ourselves. 

"Heaven forbid that your holiness should be thus mis- 
guided ; and it is to protect our unfortunate j)eople from 
such a calamity, that we have resolved here to give you a 
faithful account of the present state of a kingdom we can 
call the melancholy remains of a nation that so long groans 
under the tyranny of the kings of England, and of the 
barons, some of whom, though born among us, continue to 
practice the same rapine and cruelties against us, which 
their ancestors did against ours heretofore. We shall speak 
nothing but the truth, and we hope that your holiness will 
not delay to inflict condign punishment upon the authors 
and abettors of such inhuman calamities. 

" Know, then, that our fathers came from Spain ; and our 
chief apostle, St. Patrick, sent by your predecessor. Pope 
Celestine, in the year 435, did, by the inspiration of the Holy 
Ghost, most effectually teach us the truth of the holy Ro- 
man Catholic faith, and that ever since that period-, our 
kings, well instructed in the faith that was preached to them, 
have, in number sixty-one, without mixture of foreign blood, 
reigned in Ireland, to the year 1170 ; and those kings were 
not Englishmen, nor of any other nation but our own ; who 
with pious liberality bestowed ample endowments in lands, 
and many immunities on the Irish church, though in modern 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 21 

times our churches were most barbarously plundered by 
the English, by whom they are almost despoiled ; and though 
those our kings so long and so strenuously defended against 
tyrants and kings of different regions, the inheritance given 
them by God, preserving their innate liberty at all times 
inviolate. * * * Ever since those English- 

men appeared first upon our coasts, in virtue of the above 
surreptitious donation. They entered our territories under 
a certain specious pretext of piety and external hypocritical 
show of religion, endeavoring in the meantime, by every 
artifice malice could suggest, to extirpate us root and branch, 
and without any other right than that of strength, they have 
so far succeeded, by base and fraudulent cunning, that they 
have forced us to quit our fair and ample habitations, and 
paternal inheritances, and to take refuge, like wild beasts, 
in the mountains, woods, and morasses of the country ; nor 
can even the caverns and dens protect us against their in- 
satiable avarice. They pursue us even into those frightful 
abodes, endeavoring to dispossess us of the wild unculti- 
vated rocks, and arrogating to themselves the property of 
every place on which we can stamp the figure of our feet ; 
and through the excess of the most profound ignorance, 
impudence, arrogance, or blind insanity, scarcely conceiv- 
able, they thereto assert that not a single part of Ireland is 
ours, but by right entirely their own ! 

" Hence the implacable animosities and exterminating 
carnage which are perpetually carried on between us ; 
hence our continual hostilities, our bloody reprisals, our 
numberless massacres, in which, since the invasions of this 
day, more than 50,000 men have perished on both sides, 
not to speak of those who died by famine, despair, the rig- 



22 THE IRISH REPUBLIC, 

ors of caxotivity, and a thousand other disorders which it is 
impossible to remedy, on account of the anarchy in which 
we live — an anarchy which, alas! is tremendous, not only 
to the state, but also to the church of Ireland, the ministers 
of which are daily exposed, not only to the loss of the 
frail and transitory things of this world, but also to the loss 
of those solid and substantial blessings which are eternal 
and immortal. 

" Let those few particulars concerning our origin, and the 
deplorable state to which we have been reduced by the 
above donation of Adrian IV., suffice for the present. 

"We have now to inform your holiness, that Henry, 
King of England, and the four kings his successors, have 
violated the conditions of the Pontifical bull, by which they 
v/ere empowered to invade this kingdom; for the said 
Henry promised, as appears by the said bull, to extend the 
patrimony of the church. * * * As to the 

church lands, so far from extending them, they haye con- 
fined, and retrenched, and invaded them on all sides, inso- 
much that some cathedral churches have been, by open 
force, notoriously plundered of half their possessions ; nor 
have the persons of our clergy been more respected ; in 
every part of the country we find bishops and prelates 
cited, arrested, and imprisoned, without distinction. * * 

" The English promised, also, to introduce a better code 
of laws, and to enforce better morals among the Irish peo- 
ple ; but, instead of this, they have so corrupted our mor- 
als, that the holy and dove-like simplicity of our nation is, 
on account of the flagitious example of those reprobates, 
changed into the malicious cunning of the serpent. 

" We had a written code of laws, according to which our 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 2S 

nation was governed hitherto ; they have deprived us of 
those laws, and of every law, except one, which it is impos- 
sible to wrest from us ; and for the purpose of extermi- 
nating our peo]Dle, they have established other inic|_uitous 
laws, by which injustice and inhumanity are combined for 
our destruction — some of which we here insert for your 
inspection, as being so many fundamental rules of English 
jurisprudence, established in this kingdom." 

" All hope of peace between us, is therefore completely 
destroyed, for such is their pride, such their excessive lust 
for dominion, such our ardent ambition to shake oif this 
insupportable yoke, and recover the inheritance which they 
have so unjustly usurped, that as there never was, so there 
never will be, any sincere coalition between them and us ; 
nor is it possible there should be, in this life, for we enter- 
tain a certain natural enmity against each other, flowing 
from mutual malignity, descending by inheritance from fa- 
ther to son, and spreading from generation to generation. 
Let no person wonder, then, if we endeavor to preserve our 
lives and defend our liberties, as well as we can, against 
those cruel tyrants. So far from thinking it unlawful, we 
hold it to be a meritorious act; nor can we be accused of 
perjury or rebellion, since neither our fathers nor we did, 
at any time, bind ourselves by an oath of allegiance, to 
their fathers, or to them, and therefore, without the least 
remorse of conscience, while breath remains, we will at- 
tack them in defence of our just rights, and never lay 
down our arms until we force them to desist. Besides, we 
are fully satisfied to prove, in a judicial manner, before 
twelve or more bishops, the facts which we have stated, 
and the grievances which we have complained of; not like 



24- THE IRISH EEPIIBOIC. *• 

these English who, in time of prosperity, discontinue all 
legal ordinances, and, if they enjoyed prosperity at pres- 
ent, would not recur to Rome as they do now, but would 
crush, with their overhearing and tyrannical haughtiness, 
all the surrounding nations, despising every law, human 
and divine. 

"Thereupon, on account of all those injuries, and a thou- 
sand others which human wit cannot easily comprehend, 
and on account of the kings of England, and their wicked 
ministers, who, instead of governing us, as they are bound 
to do, with justice and moderation, have wickedly endeav- 
ored to exterminate us off the face of the earth ; and to shake 
off the detestable yoke, and recover our native liberties, 
which we lost by their means, we are forced to carry on an 
exterminating war, choosing, in defence of our liberties and 
lives, rather to rise like men, and expose our persons brave- 
ly to all the dangers of war, than any longer to bear like 
women those atrocious and detestable injuries; and in or- 
der to obtain our interest the more speedily and consistent- 
ly, we invite the gallant Edward Bruce, to whom, being de- 
scended from our most noble ancestors, we transfer as we 
justly may, our right of royal dominion, unanimously de- 
claring him our king, by common consent, who, in our 
opinion, and the opinion of most men is as just, prudent, 
and pious, as he' is powerful and courageous, who will do 
justice to all classes of the j)eople." 

The reader will see from this epistle, the galling persecu- 
tion of our forefathers, even in the times when Englishmen 
and Irishmen worshiped at the same altar. That the dar- 
ling object of England, at all times, was to trample on the 
liberties of all nations, but most especially the liberty of 



Ireland. The Irish patriot will read, with emotion, the no- 
ble and bold determination of O'Neil to free his bleeding 
country from British thralldom and oppression. To wrench 
from the iron grasp of the invader the liberties of Ireland. 
To die rather than to submit to the galling yoke of a foreign 
foe. Let Irishmen of the present day follow such a bright, 
patriotic, and illustrious example as displayed by the 
O'Neil, and strike for the freedom of Ireland— strike for the 
liberty of fatherland ! 

The English were so tyrannical, in this age, that the Irish 
invited over the gallant Bruce, as their monarch. 

Odious, indeed, must be the tyranny of England, when 
the Irish kings and princes were willing to yield up their 
authority and common country to a foreign prince rather 
than submit to British misrule, — such was the tyranny of 
the colonial task-masters of the pale — such the beauty of 
colonial law, that the killing of a mere Irishman was not 
deemed murder. 

In the reign of Edward III. the English were apprehen- 
sive that the native Irish would unite with the JSTorman 
race of the pale against British ascendency and the English 
interest. Edward wrote to his Chief Justice, in Ireland, to 
remove from office all persons who had lands in Ireland 
and none in England, or who were allied to the native Irish 
by marriage, and to give said offi.ces to Englishmen having 
lands, tenements, and benefices in England — the object of 
this policy being to j)ut Ireland under the control of the 
hirelings of the ascendency, men who had no interest in 
Ireland, mere birds of passage, who came over to Ireland 
to plunder the people, to sow discord and division between 
the native Irish and the English settlers of the pale. Such 
4 



20 THE IRISH REPDBLIC. 

has been tlie baneful policy of that overbearing, haughty^ 
unprincipled government to this day ! And such will be 
her policy until Ireland shall shake from oif her limbs the 
galling chains of centuries — until Ireland is, as she ought 
to be, free and independent, with her green old flag flaunt- 
ing in the breeze ! ! 

Another, act of the ever narrow-minded, blind, fanatical 
and unprincipled statesmen of England, in order to pre- 
vent the union of the Milesian and Norman races, was the 
famous, or, as we may term it, infamous statutes of Kil- 
kenny, which stand unparalleled in the history of the 
world! This parliament enacted that it was high treason 
for the English of the pale to intermarry with the native 
Irish. To use the Irish language, wear Irish apparel, or fol- 
low any mode or custom of the Irish, was made punishable 
by forfeiture of lands and tenements. It was even made 
penal to permit the Irish to graze the lands of the English 
of the pale, or to present any of them to any ecclesiastical 
benefices, or even to receive them into any religious 
houses or monasteries. It was also made penal to enter- 
tain the Irish bards. 

In short, England wanted to place a gulf of fire between 
the two races, so as to extirpate the Irish name and race, 
and the better to support the English interest, " the statute 
of Kilkenny empaled the pale from social life ; it formed 
an insulated Jewish cast, abhorring all, abhorred by all." 
* * *— Taaffe. 

She dreaded then, as she does now, the union of the 
people, her darling ]3olicy being to divide and conquer. 
But if the Irish of this generation be true to themselves, 
they will forget all diiferences of the past and unite in one 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 2i1 

common cause for the freedom and independence of their 
dear fatherland ! The history of the past ought to teach 
us the curse of disunion. That England got her first foot- 
hold in Ireland by division and jealousy — that by division 
she held dominion in the land of our fathers — that by the 
union of Irishmen, she will lose her power in the green isle 
for ever. 

In the reign of Henry VII., after years of bondage and 
slaughter, we find the English pale confined to the narrow 
limits of half the counties of Kildare, Meath, Uriel, Dublin 
and Wexford. 

The common people, even in those districts, conformed 
to the Irish manners, customs and habits, and spoke 
the Irish language. " All English folke of the said coun- 
ties be of Irish habit, of Irish language, and Irish con- 
ditions, except the cities and the walled towns." In this 
reign England made an attempt to govern Ireland by the 
laws of England. 

For this purpose Henry instructed his law officer, Sir Ed- 
ward Poynings, to have the following law enacted by the 
parliament of the pale, the servile instruments of the 
British ascendency — those colonial task-masters, who were 
ever ready to do the vile behest of England. We will here 
insert its principal provisions : 

" Whereas, many statutes lately made within the realm 
of England, would contribute to the wealth and prosperity 
of Ireland, if used and executed in the same, it is ordained 
and established by the authority of parliament, and by the 
assent of the lords and commons, that all statutes lately 
made within the realm of England, belonging to the 
public weal of the same, be deemed good and effectual in 



28 THE IRISH KEPIJELIC. 

law, accepted, used and executed within this land of Ire- 
land ; authorized, approved, and confirmed." 

This shows clearly that Ireland did not surrender her an- 
cient laws to Henry II., as Englishmen and the writers of the 
pale would have us believe. 

We find nothing in the history of the world so audacious 
as this attempt of a few upstarts of the pale to arrogate to 
themselves the right to legislate for the whole Irish nation, 
as we have already shown, that at this time the pale was 
generally confined to a few miles around the city of Dub- 
lin! The same minions of the pale passed another act, 
which has become memorable in the history of Ireland, 
and which gave a handle to future statesmen to cripple the 
Irish parliament — which proves the justice of Providence 
in visiting the iniquities of the parents on their children — 
for it was that act that gave Pitt and his instruments a pre- 
text to steal away the Irish parliament, at the time of the 
Union, so-called. This act provides " that no parliament be 
holden in Ireland until the acts be certified into England. 
Thus the parliament of the pale yielded up its independ- 
ence and honor, and became the mere recording committee 
of the British parliament. 

In the reign of Henry VIII., the English saw the folly of 
trying to subdue the Irish by the sword alone. By the 
counsel of Wolsey, Henry yielded the sword to cunning, 
fraud, and corruption. He attempted to govern Ireland by 
the cheap mode of division, fraud, bribery, and corruption. 
Henry conferred on the Irish chiefs titles of nobility which 
cost him nothing, as also stars, garters, and ribbons. Since 
then, England has done more to destroy the liberty of Ire- 
land, by gold ^n<i worthless honors, than by the sword. 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 29 

The grand schemes of British statesmen, ever since, has 
been diplomacy, treachery, bribery and corruption, and 
Punic faith, not only with Ireland but with the world ! 

In this perfidious reign, the colonial parliament conferred 
on Henry the title of King of Ireland, when, at the same 
time, the jurisdiction of the pale did not extend more than 
tAventy miles from Dublin. 

The following is the state of Ireland in the reign of 
Henry VIII., as taken from a State paper : 

" And fyrst of all to make His Grace understande, that 
there byn more than sixty countrys, called regyons, in Ire- 
land, inhabyted with the king's enemies, some regyons as 
big as a shire, some more, some less unto a little ; some as 
big as half a shire, and some a little less ; where reigneth 
more than sixty chief captains, whereof some calleth them- 
selves kings, some kings' peers, in their own language, 
some princes, some dukes, some arch-dukes, that liveth 
only by the sworde, and obeyeth to no other temporal per- 
son, but only to himself that is strong. And every of the 
said captains maketh war and peace for himself, and hold- 
eth by sworde, and hath imperial jurisdiction within his 
rome, and obeyeth to no other person, English or Irish, 
except only such persons as may subdue him by the 
sworde. 

"Also, there is more than thirty great captains of the 
English noble folk, that foUoweth the same Irish order, and 
keepeth the same rule, and every of- them maketh war and 
peace for himself, without license from the King, or any 
other temporal person, save to him that is the strongest, 
and of such that may subdue them by the sworde. 

"Here followeth the nances of the counties that obey 



30 THE IRISH REPtJBLIC. 

not the King's laws, and. have neither justice, neither sher- 
iffs, under the King : 

"The county of Waterford. 

" The county of Corke. 

" The county of Kilkenny. 

^ The county of Lymerick. 

" The county of Kerry. 

"The county of Conaught (province). 

"The county of Wolster (province). 

" The county of Oarlagh (OarloAv). 

"The county of Uryell (Monaghan). 

"The county of Meathe (Westmeath). 

" Halfe the county of Dublin. 

" Halfe the county of Kildare. 

" Halfe the county of Wexford. 

"AH the English folke of said counties of Irish habit, of 
Irish language, and of Irish conditions, except the cities 
and the walled towns. 

" Here foUoweth the names of the counties subject unto 
the King's laws : 

" Halfe the county of Uryell. 

"Halfe the county of Meathe. 

" Halfe the county of Dublin. 

" Halfe the county of Wexford. 

" All the common people of the said halfe counties that 
obeyeth the King's laws, for the most part be of Irish birth, 
of Irish habit, and of Irish language." 

It will be seen from another extract from the same pa- 
per, how completely the independence of the Irish chief- 
tains was recognized by all the English constituted au- 
thorities : 



'iHE IRISH REPUBLIC. H 

" Here foUoweth the names of tlie English territories 
that bear tribute to the wylde Irish : the barony of Leccha- 
hill, in the county of Wolstar (Ulster), to the Captain of 
Clonhuboy, payeth yearly £40 ; or else to O'Neyll, whether 
of them be strongest, 

" The county of Uryell (Monaghan), payeth yearly to the 
great O'Neyll, £40. 

" The county of Meathe payeth yearly to O'Connor, £300. 
The county or Kyldare payeth yearly to the said O'Connor, 
£20. 

" The King's exchequer payeth yearly to M. Morough, 
80 marks. The county of Wexford payeth yearly to M, 
Morough and Arte Oboy, £40. 

"The county of Kilkenny and the county of Tipperary 
pay yearly to O'Carroll, £40. The county of Limerick pay- 
eth yearly to O'Brien Arraghe, in English money, £40. 
The county of Corke to Cormac M, Teyge, £40. 

"Also there is no folke daily subject to the King's lawes 
but halfe the county of Uryell, halfe the county of Meathe, 
halfe the county of Dublin, and halfe the county of 
Kildare." 

Until now English sovereigns had assumed no higher 
title than that of Lord of Ireland. 

Though the Irish had suffered great wrongs, woes and 
grievances, before this reign, the cup of human misery was 
not full to overflowing ; more bitter ingredients had to be 
added, to make human suffering more complete — that of 
religious bigotry and persecution — which the malignity of 
perverted religion could invent. 

Henceforth we may date the beginning of the reign of 
terror, which would make demons blush, if they were pos' 



o2 JrHE IRISH REPUBLldi 

sessed of such faculty ! Yet the Irish are called rebels, be- 
cause they will not submit to be robbed of their liberty. 
Englishmen wonder why Irishmen cannot love the govern- 
ment of England — -why they cannot forget the past history 
of their dear and persecuted country. Irishmen cannot 
forget such wrongs, until the government of England re- 
pents of her former cruelty and oppression towards an un- 
offending people. Let her do justice to Ireland, even at 
this, the eleventh hour; let her make reparation for the 
past— for Ireland cannot forget those wrongs which are 
written in blood, until, as we have said, England repents of 
the foul wrongs which she has inflicted on Ireland, and 
restores to her her lost liberty. In short, give Ireland her 
independence. Let England withdraw her army and navy 
from Ireland, her police and spies, her army of hungry offi- 
cials, haul down \\qv flag from Dublin Castle. Then when 
we see the old, immortal green flag flaunting proudly to the 
breeze over the capital of Ireland — then, and not until 
then, can, Irishmen forget their wrongs. No honest En- 
glishman can object to this; it is justice; it is fair play. 
This is the age of justice and humanity. Let England, 
then, do justice to Ireland, and Irishmen will forgive the 
past. They will even try to forget. We will blot out all 
the spite, malice and enmity of races, and become the 
friends and neighbors of Britain. But we will not com- 
promise. The days of compromises are gone. We want 
liberty ; we want our own. Let England have England, 
and Ireland have Ireland. We want an Irish Republic ! ! 
Having thus given a brief outline of the history of Ire- 
land, down to this present period, we do hereby present, 
accuse, and indict the English government, before the 



World, of high crimes and misdemeanors. We do indict 
her before the bar of public opinion of the enlightened 
world ; we charge her with the commission of crimes of the 
blackest hue, of the perpetration inflicted on Ireland with- 
out just cause, of wrongs, cruelties, tyranny and oppres- 
sion ! of torture by death and by famine, persecution by 
penal laws, torture in prisons, convict-ships, and the misery 
of x^enal colonies, extermination by vile and unjust laws, by 
her underlings and instruments the Irish landlords and the 
English absentees, who draw from Ireland the produce of 
her soil. We do further set forth, more in detail, the mani- 
fold wrongs of Ireland aforesaid, which will show to the 
impartial reader what Ireland has suffered. For all such 
wrongs we ask for a verdict. 



CHAPTER III. 

MISaOVERNED IRELAND UNDER THE NORMAN INVADERS. 

The English government commenced a bloody persecu- 
tion of Ireland, from the fatal day when the soil of Ireland 
received the first footprints of the English invaders, under 
the tyrannical minions of Henry II., in 11T2. They began 
their perfidous reign in Ireland, by wholesale massacre, 
murder, blasphemy, perjury, avarice, cruelty, assassination, 
extermination, and lawless power ! 

" All the natives were clearly expelled, so as not one Irish 
family had so much as one acre of freehold in all the five 
counties of the pale."— Davies' Tracts, p. 276. 

The English power was confined to the pale— the lords 

5 



34 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

of the pale treated the Irish beyond their jurisdiction as 
aliens, outlaws, and perpetual enemies, without the protec- 
tion of the law. It was a by-word used by the Irish : ' 

" That they dwelt by west the law, which dwelt beyond 
the river of the Barrow," — which is within thirty miles of 
Dublin. 

The colonial tyrants made it felony for to trade with the 
native Irish. It was also made a felony to intermariy with 
them, or to foster their children. The English soldiers 
could live on the country— take " man meat and horse meat," 
and lodge in any man's house for one night. 

" They did eat up the people as it were bread." Gentle- 
men and nobles should deliver a list of their servants and 
retainers to the authorities. The authorities could execute 
all suspicious persons found outside of their doors at night. 
An Englishman could cut off the head of an Irishman on 
mere suspicion — " that it might be probable that it was his 
intention to rob ! ! " If an Englishman should rob or mur- 
der a mere Irishman, he could come into court and plead 
that the said mere Irishman was not of the five bloods (to 
wit: O'Nielsof Ulster, O'Melachlins of Meath, the O'Con- 
nors of Connaught, the O'Briens of Thomond, and the Mc- 
Murroughs of Leinster). If he was found not to be of the 
five bloods (but that he was a mere Irishman), the English- 
man was acquitted. Notwithstanding the sanguinary lawSj 
writteil*'in characters of blood, which oppressed the people 
more than, as Dr. Johnson says, the ten persecutions, the 
pale was confined to narrow limits, until the reign of Eliz- 
abeth and the pusillanimous and pedantic James I. ; the 
former used the sword, fire, famine, pestilence, horrible 
murders, perfidj^^, and wholesale massacres ; the latter the 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 35 

slow engine of perverted law, bribed judges, and perjured 
jurors, the chicanery of crafty and subtle lawyers. Her 
bloody penal laAvs punished industry as a crime and forced 
ignorance on the people by acts of parliament ! ! 

" The Irish had never been in the, condition of subjects, 
but always out of the protection of the law, and were in- 
deed in worse case than aliens of any foreign realm that 
was in amity with the crown of England." — Davies' Tracts, 
p. 85. 

The government sowed discord between Catholic and 
Protestant to prevent the Irish from going into one nation. 

The English government never understood either justice 
or humanity towards the Irish — the word mercy never en- 
tered into their vocabulary ! They tyrannized over the Irish 
and ruled over them with a rod of iron, whenever England 
was prosperous — when she was victorious by land and sea 
— she never showed mercy to poor old Ireland. But in tlie 
hour of her weakness — when England is powerful she en- 
courages the anti-Irish faction — -Irish grievances are derided 
and scoffed at ; she is compelled to submit to inferior polit- 
ical rights, so that the toiling millions of Ireland are forced 
to exile themselves in multitudes to every country out of 
Ireland : to wander in foreign lands far from the graves of 
their forefathers, to cultivate every soil but their own ! ! 

In the reign of Elizabeth, the English government, by 
Mountjoy and Carew, wasted the country with fire and sword 
and famine. They laid waste the country — destroying the 
growing crops, so that the people of Munster had to live on 
the herbs of the fields, yea, even the bodies of the dead — 
they devoured horses, carrion, and the carcasses of the dead. 
For four hundred years Ireland was governed by martial 



36 THE IRISH KEPUBLIC, 

law, which was treated as if it formed a part of the com- 
mon law. " Lord Dillion affirmed that martial law had been 
practiced, and men hanged by it in times of peace." 

The English soldiers, even in time of peace, could live 
on the country ; crops were destroyed from year to year ; 
the cattle slaughtered, so as to reduce the people by famine 
and pestilence. All this was done under the reign of good 
Queen Bess ! ! 

" Their avarice and cruelty, their plundering and massa- 
cres, were still more ruinous than the defeat of an army or 
the loss of a city." Leland, book II, chap. 3. 

They not only killed unarmed but defenseless women 
and innocent children, burnt and roasted people alive, cut 
out their bowels while yet alive ; famine was judged an 
effectual and speedy means for reducing the " Irish rebels " 
—a name given to the Irish instead of enemies. The Irish 
people were known only as " Irish enemies," in royal charts, 
acts of parliament and proclamations, before the reign of 
Elizabeth, when they were first called " Irish rebels." 

The English were afraid that the Irish would become 
tranquil and happy, that they would acquire prosperity, 
riches, and consequence, which would alienate them from 
England ; that they would become independent, and form 
an alliance with France. The people were reduced to such 
horrid famine by the ravages of Montjoy and Carew, that 
the children feasted on the bodies of their mothers. The 
country from Waterford to Limerick, about six score miles, 
was devoid of man, woman or child, except in the towns. 

The pedantic, despicable, and unprincij)led James I. 
confiscated six counties of Ulster, drove the native Irish to 
the mouiit^in^ m\^ bogs, and gave their homeg to aliens 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 37 

and enemies. Forfeiture and confiscation followed the 
sword; the homes of the Celt were given to Scotchmen. 
For this purpose parliaments were called, for the sole pur- 
pose of confiscating Irish property in this reign, as well as 
in the reigns of Henry YIII., Queen Mary, Elizabeth, 
Charles I. and Charles II. In their patents it was stipu- 
lated that they should not alienate any portion of it to the 
mere IrisJi. 

James, by his crown lawyers, opened a commission to 
inc[uire into defective titles in the kingdom of Connaught. 
He forced many of the proprietors to be mulcted in a large 
sum of money. Jurors who refused to bring in a verdict 
for the crown, were cited in the Star Chamber, where they 
were fined, imprisoned, and their ears cut off, and their 
goods confiscated to the crown. Such was the tyranny of 
this court, that a man was fined £500, his ears cut ofi", and 
himself put in the pillory for calling a nobleman's swan a 
goose.— O'ConnelFs Speeches, vol. II, p. 257. 

In the reign of Charles I., the villain Strafford planned 
the confiscation of every estate in Connaught, by bribing 
the judges and jurors. Under color of law, he confiscated 
the counties of Roscommon, Mayo and Sligo. Jurors were 
compelled to bring verdicts for the crown, under the terror 
of having their ears cut off, their tongues bored with red 
hot irons, and other infamous punishments. Yea, sheriffs 
were fined for not summoning a jury that would find a ver- 
dict for the crown ! 

" Sometimes pilloried, with loss of ears, and bored 
through the tongue, and sometimes marked in the forehead 
with a hot iron, and other infamous punishments," — Corn- 
liions' Journal, yqI, J., p. 307, 



38 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

The jurors of Galway, who had conscience not to yield to 
perjury and rob their countrymen, were adjudged to remain 
in prison until they paid a fine of four thousand pounds, and 
confessed their offenses in court upon their knees. These 
unhappy jurors remained years in prison. The lords 
justices had recourse to the rack to extort confessions!! 
Men were hanged by martial law at their own doors, who 
could not give a good account of themselves ! ! Yet, we 
are told by Clarendon and Hume that Ireland is well gov- 
erned ! 

Thus the English employ their historians, magazines, 
pamphlets, newspapers, novels, tales, and penny-a-liners, to 
misrepresent, traduce, blacken, and vilify the Irish. St. 
Leger ordered a woman, great with child, to be ripj)ed up, 
from whose womb three babes were taken, and the merci- 
less soldiers pierced their bodies with their weapons. The 
bloody Sir Charles Coote committed the most horrid and 
infamous butcheries upon the aged, decrepit women and 
children. 

" Coote, on seeing a soldier carrying about a babe on his 
pike, said that he liked such frolics."" 

His orders were to kill, destroy, burn, and demolish the 
homes and towns of the Irish. Men were butchered after 
they had laid down their arms ; many of them were mur- 
dered after they were brought within the walls of Dublin. 
October 24, 1644, the parliament of England declared that 
no quarter should be given to the Irish, 

We now come to misgoverned Ireland, under Cromwell 
and his saints, whose avowed intention was the extermina- 
tion of the Irish race and the confiscation of their proper- 
ties. These fanatical soldiers slew, what they called the 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 39 

7}iere IrisJi^ without distinction of age or condition : defence- 
less women, and innocent and hapless children ! ! ' 

" They spared neither man, woman, nor child, but all were 
committed to the sword." — HoUingshead, 6, p. 430. 

Men were hanged at the plough, and even one brother 
was forced to hang his own brother, out of mere wanton- 
ness and cruelty. (This gave rise to an old tradition among 
the people, that when Cromwell landed in Ireland, he put 
an Irishnaan on a spit, and that another Irishman was found 
to turn it, for money.) Children Avere taken by the legs 
by the soldiers, who knocked their brains against the walls ; 
defenceless men, women, and children were murdered in 
their beds at Island Magee. 

At Wexford he massacred five thousand of the inhabitants, 
even three hundred females, who gathered around a cross, 
were murdered, while with uplifted hands they implored 
mercy. The streets of Drogheda ran crimson with the 
pure blood of the Irish, for five days, by order of the cruel 
and tyrannical Cromwell ! ! 

The cruel and bloody butcher, Cromwell, wrote to En- 
gland, after the above butchery : 

" Sir, — It has pleased God to bless our endeavors at Drog- 
heda. -It % * I believe we have put to the sword tlie 
whole number of the defendants." 

Oh, blasphemous wretch! oh, cruel butcher! 

In commemoration of this hellish deed, the parliament 
of England appointed the 18th day of November as a 
thanksgiving day throughout the nation. 

Cromwell's soldiers amused themselves with hurling lit- 
tle children in the air and tJien tossing them up on the 
points of their spears. 



40 ^xfffi Msa EERTBLtdj 

Never did a nation, ancient or modern, sufier as much as 
poor Ireland has, from the diabolical and merciless cruelty 
of tyrannical England ! All the hostility and bigotry of the 
English and the Anglo-Irish of the pale, has been directed 
to exterminate the Irish race, from the days of Henry II. 
to Queen Victoria. 

It has been said that this was the work of the govern- 
ment, and not the people ; but the people sanctioned all of 
this cruelty and despotism. The English had a strong 
anti-party against anything Irish. In short, Cromwell's war 
was carried on by the great mass of the English people ; 
yet these soldiers were the most fiendish, cruel and diabol- 
ical of any that Ireland ever endured, or which afflicted a 
people. They wasted the country with fire, sword, famine 
and pestilence, in 1652-3. 

A man might travel thirty miles without seeing a living 
creature— " and a most plentiful country suddenly left 
voyde of man and beast." — Spenser's State of Ireland, p. 
165, (108.) 

One thousand Irish were transported to the West Indies, 
by orders of Cromwell ; those of a military age were 
spared on condition of exiling themselves to the continent 
of Europe. Lingard says that vessels were crowded by the 
poorer classes, and sent to Barbadoes and other West India 
Islands — not one of which survived in twenty years. In 
1655, thousands of Irish boys and girls were taken from 
their homes, and transported to the West Indies. 

We shudder when we see the inhuman manner in which 
England has tried to Anglicise Ireland. It makes our blood 
boil with indignation and horror ! ! The Cromwellians sur- 
veyed the whole of Ireland, and divided it among their 



THE miSH EEPUBLIC. 41 

soldiers, except Tipperary, which Cromwell kept for his own 
family, in which no adventurers were to have a share or lot. 
Tlius, Cromwell's soldiers became possessed of the most 
fertile parts of Ireland, with no other right but that of 
conquest. 

The English adventurers who coveted the lands of the 
Irish, wished to consider them enemies, and to force them 
into rebellion, so as to have a pretense to confiscate their 
estates. If an Irishman had wealth, he was sure to be cut 
off, and hanged at his own door ! 

" It was thought no ill policy to make the Irish draw 
blood upon one another, whereby their private quarrels 
might advance the public service." Though the Irish had 
fought the battles of England, and aided her to extend her 
dominion over the four winds of heaven, causing her flag 
to wave over every sea and ocean in the world, yet, in the 
hour of her prosperity and greatness she tyrannized over 
Ireland with a rod of iron ! 

By the treaty of Limerick, the Catholics were not bound 
to take any other oath but the oath of allegiance ; but after 
the victories of Marlborough, the bloody j)enal code, which 
Montesquieu said, was written in blood, was enacted. 

England violated her ]3ledges and promises, with a Punic 
faith, which will never be forgotten. The violated treaty 
of Limerick, Irishmen can never forget. Never can they 
trust the violators! nor the rotten, bigoted, selfish, and nar- 
row-minded British aristocracy. 

"The treaty of Limerick was trampled under foot — jus- 
tice, and humanity, and conscience were trodden to the 
earth, and a code of laws inflicted on the Catholics, whicli 
Montesquieu has well said, ought to have been written in 
6 



42 THE IRISH REPUBLIC, 

blood, and of wliicli you still feel the emaciating cruelty — 
a code of laws which still leaves you aliens in the land of 
your ancestors." — O'Connell's speeches, vol. I, p. 195. 

The only way to force from them Irish rights, is by the 
liberal party in Ireland uniting with the liberal Democrats 
of England and Scotland. That was the most potent wea- 
pon by which O'Connell gained emancipation. This union 
of the Irish liberals with the reform party carried the En- 
glish parliamentary reform bill, — the Scotch reform bill, — 
the English municipal reform bill, — the Scotch municipal 
reform bill. Yet, though the Irish obtained reform for 
Scotland and England, she failed to obtain the same and 
equal reform for herself. 

Ireland cannot expect from England equal rights, while 
she is in the minority in the British parliament — while she 
has but 100 representatives against 558 from Wales, England 
and Scotland in the British parliament. Her only hope is 
in final separation — in her own independence. " Heredi- 
tary bondsmen ! know ye not, who would be free, them- 
selves must strike the blow." Ireland must take her place 
among the nations of the earth, with her green flag floating 
over the castle of Dublin; her minister representing her 
in the city of Washington. 

Oh, with what raptures of delight would the Sunburst be 
hailed in the Atlantic cities ! ! 

Who can depict the enthusiasm and patriotic feelings of 
Irish- Americans on beholding the immortal green floating 
proudly over an Irish man-of-war in the American waters ! 
yet this is Ireland's noble and holy destiny ! 

Fellow-countrymen, we must not cease to agitate until 
this glorious result is finally accomplished. Let us not de- 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 43 

spair of the freedom of fatherland. Let ns persevere with 
holy ardor in the good cause, and Ireland must and shall be 
free!! 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE UNITED IRISHMEN — REBELLION OF '98. 

The true cause of the rebellion of 1798 — English despot- 
ism — The harrassing system of landlordism — The cruel- 
ties of the petty magistrates — Persecution — Patriotism 
of the people — The French land in Ireland — The bloody 
deeds of the colonial upstarts — The Wexford rebellion. 

In consequence of the penal and unjust laws passed 
against Irish manufactures, that branch of industry was 
ruined, and gave a monopoly of the woolen trade to En- 
gland. To this we may add, that while England was 
increasing her national debt, by wars on the continent of 
Europe, as well as her unholy crusade and despotic war to 
enslave the colonies of North America, while Ireland had 
to furnish her quota of both men and money, all the fat 
army contracts were given to Englishmen! While the 
English people had all the profits from these wars, Ireland 
received nothing but taxation and poverty, for her expen- 
ditures of both blood and treasure ! From the monopoly 
of the English manufacturers, the trade of Ireland lan- 
guished and decayed, throwing thousands out of employ- 
ment in the towns and cities, to seek employment from the 
farmers, who were already overrun with laborers. This 
made lands dear, thereby greatly enhancing the rents of 
the avaricious, and greedy and tyrannical "middle-men." 

In the reign of George III., we read of the first symp- 



44 THE IRISH R.EPIIBLIC. 

toms of agrarian troubles in Ireland. The working classes 
having despaired of obtaining any redress of their griev- 
ances from the oligarchy, and their overbearing and plun- 
dering agents, had recourse to secret societies called 
" Whiteboys," Landlords in Munster had let farms to their 
tenants, with the privilege of commonage. They after- 
wards enclosed those commons. The farmers met in 
crowds and demolished the enclosures. The landlords 
raised the cry of " treason against the State," and had even 
the audacity to obtain a select committee to inquire into 
the cause of the " Popish insurrection in Munster." The 
London papers, on the authority of royal commissioners, 
pronounced that the rioters " consisted indiscriminately of 
persons of different persuasions." Yet the castle oligarchy 
denounced it as " another Popish plot." 

A large military force was dispatched to Tipperary, where 
the resident " undertakers," the blood-stained Maude, Bag- 
nell, Toler, and Hewiston, were the chief maintainers of 
the so-called " Popish plot," for bringing over the French 
and the Pretender. 

In 1763, Father Sheehy was executed on charge of en- 
rolling and maintaining the " Whiteboys." Several other 
persons suffered on charge of being connected with the 
Whiteboys. Other societies followed, but the most formi- 
dable was that of the United Irishmen, who threatened to 
dismember the British empire. This society followed the 
bright example of the volunteers of 1782, with this differ- 
ence, that they wanted to sever the last link which joined 
Ireland to England. For they could not trust England. 
They remembered how England violated her promises, 
solemialy given iii t|ie hour of England's weakness and 



THE IRISH K.EPUBLIC. 45' 

Ireland's strength. We say weakness of England, for in 
the revolutionary war of the American colonies, England 
had her forces dispersed in remote and distant parts of the 
world. Such was her weakness, that she was unable to 
protect Ireland from an " anticipated French invasion." 
To add more to England's difficulties, her minister was un- 
popular, her people were ground down by enormous taxa- 
tion, her treasury was depleted, her army defeated in the 
colonies. This was the moment to strike for Irish indepen- 
dence and eternal separation. Let not Irishmen ever again 
throw away such an opportunity ! But, alas ! the patriots 
of 1782 were not in a mood to separate from England. 
They were willing to be satisfied with the promises of En- 
gland. Yet the patriots of that time lived to see not only 
the promises of England violated, but Ireland's independ- 
ence annihilated ! These patriots considered England as 
the cradle of liberty; but they lived to regret the confi- 
dence they put in perfidious Albion. They were satisfied 
with the repeal of Poyning's law — legislative indepen- 
dence. They were willing that Ireland should be governed 
through the crown and Ireland and not through the crown of 
England — that the king of England was the king of Ire- 
land — that the king was to govern both kingdoms through 
their respective legislatures. Again, we say, that if the 
volunteers had acted with more warlike fervor, if they had 
not put too much faith in the pledges and promises of 
Britain, made in the hour of her weakness, to be violated 
in the hour of her prosperity, they could have gained the 
independence of their country — final separation .from the 
crown of Great Britain — Ireland could be to-day a free 
republic, Thei^- ^ere led by aristocrats, Had they trusted 



46 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

ill leaders from the ranks of the toiling millions, they 
would show England that Ireland was never intended by 
the God of nature to be her vassal ! But to return to the 
subject. These startling disturbances confirmed the pa- 
triots that the most potent remedy for those popular out- 
breaks was " free trade " and home manufactures — indepen- 
dent parliament. The revolt of the American colonies 
from the " step-mother," England, caused by the cupidity 
and greed of the English oligarchy, to tax the colonies and 
to cripple their resources, and to keep them dependent on 
the looms and spinning-jennies of England, roused the dor- 
mant spirit of the Irish patriots, to seek for the redress of 
their grievances. In 1778 to 1783, Mr. Grattan was con- 
sidered the champion of '•'■free trade and free jparliainenV 
in Ireland. 

In 1777, the brave patriots of America had whipped the 
army of Burgoyne, at Saratoga, and immortal and chival- 
rous France became a powerful ally of the American pa- 
triots, struggling against the power, wealth, mighty resources 
and intriguing diplomacy of England. The British lion re- 
ceived a wound, which sent him howling across the foaming 
billows of the Atlantic ! which proud Britannia will never 
forget; humbling her arrogant, vainglorious pride, and 
overbearing and overweaning despotism. Then, and only 
until then, did the ascendency party, with good grace, but 
with much reluctance pass the first Catholic relief bill, in 
1778, which gave the Catholics the privilege to loan money on 
mortgages, and to lease lands for a term of 999 years ; and 
to bequeath and inherit real property. The oligarchy, who 
were nothing more than the colonial jailors of the native 
Irish, and who had a monopoly of the government of Ire- 



THE lEISH REPUBLIC, 47 

land and its offices — who had a monopoly of the Irish par- 
liament, from the expulsion of James II. until lliey bartered 
it away to Pitt, in 1800. They held a monopoly of the 
privileges and franchises, in the hour of England's might, 
power, and prosperity, with that insolent intolerance which 
characterizes the minority — when colonial adventurers are 
upheld by the power of foreign bayonets, over a conquered 
but not subdued nation ! But, in the hour of England's 
weakness — when adversity perched on her banners — when 
her armies were subdued, her trained and disciplined vet- 
erans were vanquished by the immortal, invincible, and 
patriotic heroes of North America — when the bloody flag 
of England, which " braved a thousand years the battle and 
the breeze," was lowered to the glorious stars and stripes — 
the emblem of liberty — destined to be the shield of the op- 
pressed of every clime, who may seek the free shores of 
America ! Then, when the power of England trembled be- 
fore the immortal Washington and the heroes of 1776 ! then, 
and not until then, did the colonial " undertakers" of the 
ascendency party, repeal the test oath, in favor of the dis- 
senters. Then did England consent to arm the Irish militia. 
Swift's maxim was caught up by the Irish people : " To burn 
everything coming from England, except the coals." This 
was the subject of popular and patriotic toasts. In July, 
1779, the English government was compelled, through fear, 
to issue arms to the Irish volunteers. In 1780, the English, 
not being able to retrieve their fallen fortunes in the colo- 
nies — England, crestfallen, was glad, as well as the colo- 
nial jailors and supporters of English interest in Ireland, 
by the " instrumentality of the eloquent and patriotic 
Grattan, and his friends, to yield to Ireland free trade! 



48 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

This put Ireland on an equality with England, in respect to 
foreign and colonial commerce. 

* In 1782, England was forced, through her difSculties, to 
accept Grattan's ultimatum. The repeal of the 6th of 
George I. — the repeal of Poyning's law — the repeal of the 
perpetual mutiny act, and an act to abolish the alteration 
and suppression of hills. An act to establish the final ju- 
risdiction of the Irish courts and the Irish house of lords, 
thus raising Ireland to the proud dignity of a nation. We 
will make a few extracts from Grattan on the manufactures 
of Ireland, as follows: "That we beseech your majesty to 
believe, that it is with the utmost reluctance we are con- 
strained to approach you on the present occasion ; but the 
constant drain to supply absentees, and the unfortunate 
prohibition of our trade have caused such calamity, that 
the natural support of our country has decayed, and our 
manufacturers are dying from want; famine stalks hand 
and hand with hopeless wretchedness ; and the only means 
left to support the expiring trade of this miserable part of 
your majesty's dominions, is to open a free export trade, and 
let your Irish subjects enjoy their natural birthright." An- 
other source of Irish thralldom arose from the fact that 
Irish judges were dependent on the crown for their salaries. 
They were aiDpointed during the pleasure of the sovereign. 
If they did not prove subservient to the dictates of the 
crown, they could be removed from the bench ! Thus was 
the dignity of the judiciary made an instrument in the 
hands of despotism ! Up to this time Ireland was inunda- 
ted by the fabrics of English manufacturers, which exclud- 
ed home manufactures. 
A free trade meeting was convened in Dublin, by the 



*HE IRISH REPUBLIC. 49 

high sheritf, and free trade resolutions were passed, as well 
as non-importation resolutions. We copy the following : 

" At a general meeting of the freemen and freeholders 
of the city of Dublin, convened by public notice, ,; 

" William, James and John Ex Shaw, High Sheriffs, in the 
chair. The following resolutions, amongst others, were 
unanimously adopted : 

" That we will not, from the date hereof, until the griev- 
ances of this country shall be removed, directly or indi- 
rectly import or consume any of the manufactures of Oreat 
Britain, nor will we deal with any merchant or shopkeeper 
who shall import such manufactures; and that we recom- 
mend an adoption of a similar agreement to all our coun- 
trymen who regard the commerce and constitution of this 
country. 

" Resolved, unanimously. That we highly applaud the 
manly and patriotic sentiments of our several corps of Mer- 
chants, Independent, Dublin, Liberty, and Goldsmiths' Vol- 
unteers, and heartily thank them for their demonstration 
of zeal and ardor in the cause of the country, and that we 
shall ever be ready to join with them in defending our 
rights and constitution, and gladly and cheerfully contribute 
to protect them from prosecution or persecution. 

" Signed, John Ex Shaw, Sheriff." 

Barrington, p. 82. 

England had to yield up her legislative usurpation ; Ire- 
land, by union and patriotism, gained her rights in 1782, 
from the tyrant England, wrung from her, as we have be- 
fore said, in the hour of her difficulties, when her armies 
were vanquished in America. But alas ! those rights were 
again lost in 1800, when England was again powerful. She 



50 THE IRISH REPUBLIC, 

"broke faith with Ireland, with the same perfidy as she vio- 
lated the treaty of Limerick, which will remain a monu- 
ment of shame and disgrace to Britain. That treaty, which 
is inscribed in the hearts of the people of Ireland, should 
make England blush, and teach Irishmen that they can 
never put faith in England. " You must not put trust in 
princes," says the good book. Indeed Ireland cannot put 
trust in the princes of England — for the Plantagenets, Tu- 
dors, Stuarts and Guelphs, have broken faith with Ireland ! 
Even the formal promises made by Pitt to the Iruli fump^ 
in 1800, were most shamefully broken. Grattan says, when 
he beheld the lost independence of the Irish parliament, 
through the foul corruption of the infamous Robert Stew- 
art, commonly called Castlereagh, " I found Ireland on her 
knees ; watched over her with a parental solicitude, I have 
traced her progress from injury to arms, and from arms to 
liberty. Spirit of Swift ! spirit of Molyneux ! your genius 
has prevailed ! Ireland is now a nation ! In that new char- 
acter I hail her ! and bowing to her august presence, I saj^, 
'•Esto perpetua.'' " This was in the hour of Ireland's joy. 
But, alas! how soon had he to lament, where now lie re- 
joiced. To quote his own language : " As he watched over 
it in its cradle, so he attended it to its grave." 

The crafty Pitt resigned rather than redeem his plighted 
faith with the Catholics. This should teach Irishmen to 
forget their old differences, old animosities, and foolish di- 
visions, and unite once for all, and in the hour of England's 
weakness sever the fatal chain which has bound Ireland to 
England ! To cast off with supreme and high disdain and 
contemptuous scorn the proffered compromises with En- 
gland ! Away with compromise — let us have independence. 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 51 

Let the glorious Sun-burst float over the castle of Dublin. 
This should be the aim and object of every true, noble, and 
patriotic Irishman, who loves his country, and i&~not a base 
instrument of the English government and despotism. We 
have seen from history, that England has violated her trea- 
ties with all nations. Therefore the true policy of Irishmen 
is to keep united, and when they find England involved in 
some mighty struggle with some great power, then to strike 
for freedom, for liberty and national independence ! 

In 1788, the tithe question, which had slumbered since 
the days of Swift, was agitated by the people. The far- 
mers, who had been groaning under the burden of exor- 
bitant rents, church-rates and tithes, could find no redress 
from their rulers ; they had secret meetings in secluded 
places, to devise some remedy to rid themselves of this 
galling yoke — that of supporting a church and clergy to 
whom they did not belong. This led to the old agrarian 
secret societies against high rents and tithes. • Mr. Grattan 
made a powerful effort in the Irish parliament to inquire 
into the subject of tithes, which was lost. For a commit- 
tee of inquiry, 49 ; against it, 121. 

In 1790, the French revolution, which agitated the conti- 
nent of Europe and the British Islands, made England trem- 
ble, and the ascendency party in Ireland, on beholding the 
aspect of the great French drama. The royalists of the 
kingdoms trembled, lest French ideas would gain ground 
with the people of the three kingdoms. This was, again, 
one of England's ditficulties. The liberal Protestants of 
the middle classes — such as Wolfe Tone, and Thomas Addis 
Emmett, joined the middle class of Catholics, forgetting 
all religious difi'erences, and formed the " United Irishmen," 



52 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

a " committee of the Catholics assembled, called ' the Back 
Lane Parliament.' " In 1793, the second Catholic reform 
bill was passed, yet though they were afraid of the French 
principles, which were spreading fast in the north of Ire- 
land^ — even now, in the hour of England's danger, when 
the empire trembled from its centre to its circumference, 
the Catholics would not get a seat in the Irish parliament ! 
Wolfe Tone and the united Irish raised the standard of re- 
volt. They proclaimed that Ireland should have an '^ Irish 
Republic." England had to yield, with much reluctance, 
this sacred boon to the Irish, not from a sense ©f justice, 
equity, or honor, but as a matter of necessity. England 
will be generous when she is driven to the wall ; but in 
the hour of her prosperity, her former audacity returns — 
she breaks faith and takes advantage of the divisions of 
the " Irish of the pale," — her old favorite maxim and prac- 
tice being, " divide et imperaP For we now find the oli- 
garchy pass an arms act, and prohibiting the importation 
of arms and amunition. The ]3rinciples of Democracy be- 
came the general theme with men of all classes in Ireland. 
It divided friends of long standing, both in England and 
Ireland. Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Arthur O'Connor, Addis 
Emmett, and Wolfe Tone hailed with rapturous delight the 
prospect of an " /Ws/^ ^e^'M5?^c,'' ^he abolition of royalty 
and nobility, and the inauguration of unqualified Demo- 
cracy ! ! 

England having been engaged in a war with France, 
wanted to unite and conciliate the Irish, so that they could 
gain supplies of men and money, sent over Lord Fitz- 
william for the purpose of holding out a delusive hope to 
the Irish Catholics, that they would obtain as complete an 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 53 

emancipation as they afterwards obtained by the agitation 
of O'Oonnell and his friends. In 1792, Grattan introduced 
a Catholic emancipation bill, but the old cry the " church in 
danger," defeated it by a vote of 165 to 55. Again, in 
1796, Grattan's motion for granting equal rights to per- 
sons of all religions, was lost, only 14 out of 160 voting 
for it ! 

An Insurrection Act, empowering the local magistrates 
to proclaim martial law and the riot act; the suspension of 
the habeas corpus^ showed that the oligarchy were deter- 
mined, under the influence of English power, to create a 
reign of terror in Ireland, to make the Irish dissatisfied 
with the colonial oligarchy. She now played off Orange- 
man against Defender. This was the plan inaugurated by 
Pitt for stealing away Ireland's independence! In the 
great political drama in which Ireland lost her parliament, 
the most conspicuous champions and instruments in the 
hands of \hQ English minister, Pitt, was the infamous 
Kobert Stewart, known as Lord Castlereagh. Under the 
advice of Pitt he laid his plans for the destruction of Irish 
independence. The castle oligarch}^ armed the intolerant 
magistrates with the cruel engines of martial law and the 
quartering of the yeomanry on the country. Their barba- 
rous outrages were so inhuman and monstrous, that Sir John 
Moore exclaimed, " If I were an Irishman I would be a 
rebel !" 

In this way they precipitated the country into insurrec- 
tion — which, if the winds had not driven Grouchy out of 
Bantry Bay, with his French fleet, Ireland would be severed 
from England. As it was, it shook the British empire to 
its centre — for it took the yeomanry, English and Scotch, 



54 THE IKISH REPUBLIC. 

amounting to 35,000 men, while the regulars were increased 
from 50,000 to 80,000, to suppress the rebellion. 

The French, on the 13th of December, 1797, under Gen. 
Hoche, landed in Bantry Bay, with an army of 15,000 men. 
Their fleet was driven to sea by a violent storm. The fleet 
returned to France, to the mortification of the United Irish- 
meii. 

The Dutcii fleet, under De Winter, made an attempt to 
invade Ireland, but was defeated by Duncan at Oamper- 
down. This was unfortunate for the cause of Irish liberty. 
The days of " 'wooden walls " are gone, and steam will ex- 
plode the British empire ! ! 

In November, 1797, Lord Oarhampton, being disgusted 
with the military despotism of the castle oligarchy, re- 
signed as commander-in-chief, and was succeeded by Sir 
Ralph Abercrombie. He found the tyrants Beresfords and 
Castlereagh ruling the people with a rod of iron — chastis- 
ing them with scorpions. He wrote to his son, in confi- 
dence, " that the abuses of all kinds I found here can 
scarcely be believed or enumerated." He draws a most 
pathetic picture of the grievances and misery of Ireland. 
In his proclamation of 1798, he said that the Irish army 
was "formidable to every one but the enemy." For this, 
and equally strong and pointed language, he was denounced 
by Castlereagh arid his pack as a " sulky mule." He finally 
resigned rather than to be made the instrument of the des- 
potic oligarchy, whose unholy plan was to let a brutish and 
bloody soldiery live on the disarmed people. This was 
done for iliQ unholy purpose of driving the people, first to 
madness, and then to rebellion. 

About the beginning of February, 1798, Arthur O'Oon- 



I'llE IRISH REPUBLIC. 5y 

lior and Father James Quigley were arrested on their way 
to France. On the 6th of March, the Press, the organ 
of the Dublin United Irishmen, was seized by the govern- 
ment. On the 12th of Marcli, Thomas Reynolds turned 
traitor, and gave the government such information as led 
to the arrest of the Leinster delegates, at the house of Oli- 
ver Bond. 

Addis Emmett and Dr. McNevin were arrested, and 
Sampson was arrested in the Nortli of England. On 
tlie 19th of May, Lord Fitzgerald was betrayed by a mean 
traitor of the name of Higgins, and taken by the infamous 
Majors Swan and Sirr, after a violent struggle. 

The most gigantic and important insurrection, was that 
wliicli broke out iii the county of Wexford, a county here- 
tofore remarkable for the peaceable disposition of its in- 
habitants, consisting, for the most part, of those descendents 
of the Ostmen, Milesian, Norman, Saxon, Welsh, and Flem- 
ish. The Flemish, Saxon, and Welsh population prepon- 
derated in the Baronies of Fort and Bargy. This county is 
remarkable for the beauty of the country, with sea-coast, 
wood, and mountain ; fertile fields and meadows, and tJie 
clear streams, which flow from the magnificent peak of the 
far famed, grand and lofty Wicklow Mountains. The road 
from Dublin to the shire town of Wexford passed through 
Arklow, Gorey, Ferns, and Enniscorthy. The principal 
roads in this county, are the Dublin, Ross, Carlow, and 
Wexford roads. The inhabitants were contented and com- 
fortable, and would not inaugurate rebellion were it not for 
the arrogant and despotic rule of the local magistrates— 
those minions of vile British power, inflated with brief au- 
thrsrity— an authority which gave those ignorant and nar- 



56 a?H£ Irish tiEPUBLic, 

row minded hirelings the sword to plunge into the bosoiii 
of the unfortunate and unarmed people. 

I will here insert a passage from Cloney's narative of 
Wexford, as the author was an eye-witness of the bloody 
scenes enacted by the ascendency party, in 1798. He says, 
as follows : 

" The deliberate massacre of a number of innocent and 
unoffending country people at the pattern of Tallamtown, 
in the county of Louth, where they were dancing on the 
green in conformity to ancient custom, the cold-blooded 
daylight murders perpetrated in the county of Armagh, by 
the adherents and retainers of the same factions, with per- 
fect impunity, and the dispersion of legal and regularly 
convened meetings of the military, must convince every 
man who is not an incorrigible sceptic, that the object of 
these execrable factions, was either to brake down the 
spirit of the people by a series of the most humiliating 
outrages on their persons, or to compel them to raise the 
standard of insurrection in defence of their lives and pro- 
perties." — Cloney's Narrative, preface page 11. 

Those murderers went on their midnight rounds, sacking 
and burning houses, plundering the inoifensive and peace- 
able inhabitants at will. They were more cruel and barba- 
rous than Goths, Vandals, and Gauls—as fierce as the infu- 
riated and murderous Indians of North America ! They 
spared neither age nor sex, deaf, lame, or blind. The Brit- 
ish hireling soldiers were let loose. They may be called 
the scourge of the people ! Conflagration, devastation, and 
ruin marked the march of the hireling soldiers and blood- 
thirsty yeomanry! The following will show what, the 
people of Wexford suffered on this bloody occasion : 



" Under the ban of a furious Orange ascendency, and 
their rapacious satellites, a blood-thirsty yeomanry, and a 
hireling magistracy, who looked forward to the possession 
of t^e property, not only of the Catholics, but of liberal 
Protestants, either by plunder or confiscation." 

Indeed the colonial jailors never let slip an opportunity 
to rob their neighbors, if they did not belong to the " un- 
derstrappers " of modern times, or in former periods to the 
party of English ascendency. They were never so happy 
as when revolution gave them a pretext to rob or exter- 
minate the ancient Irish race ! 

The United Irishmen was one of the most extensive and 
well organized associations in ancient or modern times. 
The representatives were even unknown to their constitu- 
ents, and the soldiers even were unacquainted with their 
commanders ; the names of the executive committee were 
unknown to thousands of the members of this formidable 
but patriotic society of brave and determined men, who 
strove to sever the dependence of Ireland from the corrupt 
power of Great Britain, This society will ever be honored 
by the patriotic youth of Ireland, and revered by old and 
young until the end of time. 

The insurgents meditated an attack upon Dublin itself; 
but they lacked experience, discipline, and experienced 
ofiicers ; they were badly armed, and ill prepared to meet 
a concentrated force, under command oi Lord Roden. The 
night of the attack was to be the 23d of May, 1798. A 
large body of the patriots concentrated at Swords, Santry, 
and Rathfarms. Their plan was to take the castle of Dub- 
lin by storm and surprise. But their plans were frustrated 
by a sudden dash by Lord Koden and his cavalry, which, 
8 



58 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

after a skirmish, dispersed them. This saved the rnetrop- 
olis. We copy the following scene of cruelty and barbarity 
from the gifted, eloquent, and noble patriot, Barrington, 
descriptive of the scene in the castle yard, the morning- 
after the encounter, thus : 

" A new, disgusting, and horrid scene was next looming 
publicly exhibited, after which military executions com- 
menced, and continued with, unabated activity. Some dead 
bodies of insurgents, sabered the night before by Lord 
Roden's dragoons, were brought in a cart to Dublin, with 
some prisoners tied together. The carcasses were stretched 
out in the castle yard, where the Viceroy then resided, and 
in full view of the Secretary's windows ; they lay on the 
pavement as trophies of the first skirmish, during a hot 
day, cut and gashed -in every part, covered with clotted 
blood and dust, the most frightful spectacle which ever dis- 
graced a royal residence, save the seraglio. After several 
hours exposure, some appearance of life was perceived in 
one of the mutilated carcasses. The man had been stabbed 
and gashed in variohs parts. His body was removed into 
the guard-room, and means were taken to restore anima- 
tion. The efforts succeeded; he entirely recovered, and 
was pardoned by Lord Camden. He was an extraordinary 
fine young man, above six feet high, the son of a Mr. 
Keaugh, an opulent landholder of Rathfarnham; he did. 
not, however, change his principles, and was, ultimately, 
sent out of the country." 

" That morning, the yeomanry corps were called upon to 
attend the execution of Lord Koden's prisoners, who were 
ordered to be hanged from the lamp irons, or on the bridges. 
It was a service the respectable corps declined ; several, 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 59 

however, went individually as spectators. Tlie first victim 
to that arbitrary and ill-judged execution was a Mr. Led- 
witch, of Rathfarnham, the brother of a Catholic clergyman," 
(Barrington, 352.) 

" He was a remarkably large and heavy person, and was 
hanged on one of the bridges. By the inexperience of 
the executioner, Mr. Ledwitch suffered a prolonged and 
^ cruel death ; the rope frequently slipped, and gave way ; 
at length his legs were tied up behind his back, and after 
much struggling and dragging, he was dispatched with very 
considerable difficulty." 

" It was a horrible sight." 

"■ Others were executed at the same time ; some of the 
lamplighters also paid with their lives for their former 
night's omission, and blood began to flow with but little 
mercy. Bacon (a major of the old volunteers) was caught 
in a female garb, endeavoring to quit the cit}^, and under a 
general order to execute, forthwith, all persons found in 
disguise, he was led to Carlisle bridge, and hanged ,from 
the scaffolding. These species of executions became com- 
mon, and habit soon reconciled men to what was not only 
disgusting, but horrible." 

'' Martial law was now proclaimed, and the courts of jus- 
tice closed, except on civil subjects. The barristers pleaded 
in their uniforms, with their side-arms ; one of the judges 
(Baron Medge) appeared on the bench in the same uniform ; 
the names of the inmates of every house were posted on 
every door, fabricated reports of massacres and poisonings 
were daily propagated ; the city assumed, altogether, the 
appearance of one monstrous barrack, or slaughter-house. 
The attacks on the royal garrisons in Kildare and Dublin 



60 THE IRISH BfiPtJBLIC. 

counties, were in many places nnsuccessfnl ; on other points 
the insurgents entirely succeeded, and no quarter was 
granted on either side." — (Barrington, 353.) 

Such scenes of cold-blooded massacres drove the people 
of Wexford to rebellion. Lord Kingsborough and his ever 
infanious and • never to be forgotten bloody " North Cork 
militia," goaded the people, and drove them to desperation. 
The employment of the pitch-cap and triangle was most^ 
barbarously and wantonly used. A sergeant of the North 
Cork militia, named Tom the Devil^ (I think his name was 
Swan) was like a demon in human clothing, devising new 
and diabolical modes of torture. He enjoyed himself by 
rubbing moistened gunpowder in the hair of his unfortu- 
nate victims and then setting it afire, midst the laughter of 
his heartless, degraded companions. They used to cut the 
hair short, of .persons suspected of being disloyal, and then 
put a cap of pitch and tar upon their heads. While thus 
clipping the hair off the heads of the " cro])py^^'' they would 
cut off the ears and the noses. These atrocities were per- 
petrated with the sanction of the hirelings of the British 
government — Lord Clare, the Beresfords, and Castlereagh, 
whose names have become synonymous with all that is in- 
famous. The vile wretches, Lords Clare and Castlereagh, ' 
were borne to the grave midst the hootings of the people. 
Even the viper Castlereagh had the mortification before 
his death to be defeated as a member for Down; even the 
defeat was felt by Pitt as a sad blow. Let this be his epi- 
taph, " Vendidit Jiic auro jpatriamy Words are inadequate 
to express the Irishman's indignation and detestation of 
the traitorous and villainous Robert Stewart — Lord Castle- 
reagh. 



THE IRtSH REPUBLIC. 6l 



CHAPTER V. 

It has been proverbial with the Irish to exclaim, that the 
people's curse made Castlereagh to cut his throat. At last, 
forbearance ceasing to be a virtue, the people retaliated — 
several of the informers had their hair cut in like manner, 
hence all that wore short hair were called by the nickname 
of " croppy," a name given b}?- the " truly loyal " to all who 
were suspected of hostility to the government. It was a 
mark of little minds, when unexpectedly clothed with pow- 
er, to display their petty tyranny; many of the resident 
magistrates being on a sudden clothed with unbridled and 
discretionary powers, marched up and down through the 
country with an executioner, and a rope and gallows to 
hang SiJiy person upon whom suspicion might rest, or to 
whom the finger of the informer was pointed. They amused 
themselves by cutting off the hands of their enemies, as 
they called them, and in their midnight drunken orgies 
they w^ould stir up their punch with the hands of their foe. 
They took poor people and used them as targets. If a 
gentleman should remonstrate against those outrages, he 
was cast into prison. 

There was no fair pretext for this, but the vile spirit of a 
mere party — a colonial garrison, aided, fed, fostered, pro- 
tected by the tyranny of England ; they trampled on the 
rights of the majority by the aid of English bayonets. 
Archibald Hamilton Jacob, of the Enniscorthy yeomen, 
marched through the country with an executioner, with his 
ropes and cat o' nine tails. 

" Imagination was continually on the stretch, and human 



62 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

ingenuity exhausted, in the preparation of tortures for their 
prisoners, which never were surpassed for devilish ingenu- 
ity outside the walls of pandemonium. Tacitus has writ- 
ten that Nero ordered the Roman christians to be envel- 
oped in garments saturated with some bituminous liquid, 
which were then set fire to, and the wearers died midst the 
flames that issued from these garments, in the most excru- 
ciating torments. In one instance, particularly, Tom the 
devil proved himself not inferior to the imperial monster, 
in practicing the most refined barbarity. A Mr. Perry, of 
Inch, near Gorey, a respectable Protestant gentleman, hav- 
ing been made prisoner, and brought into Gorey, this mili- 
tary Beelzebub procured gunpowder, which, after wetting, 
he kneaded into a sort of devil's pomatum, and l)esmeared 
the unfortunate gentleman's head profusely with the horrid 
compound ; he then applied a match or candle to Mr. Per- 
ry's occiput^ which ignited the combustible matter, burned 
his hair from its very roots, and raised an ulcerous blister 
from his forehead to the nape of his neck. Several other 
persons became the victims of the same system of torture, 
and under the eyes, and with the perfect knowledge of cer- 
tain magistrates ; and what will be said of a government 
that instead of discarding those wretches with ignominy^ 
when their cruelties were fully known, complimented and 
rewarded them, and they were allowed to continue to dis- 
grace the commission to the end of their lives." — Cloney, 
p. 193. 

We will again quote from Cloney, who was an eye-witness 
of the diabolical and inhuman outrages at Wexford: 

" The organization of the United Irish system having but 
partially taken place in the county Wexford, there was no 



OJkiS IRtSH REPtTBLIC. 6^ 

fair J)i'etext for the persecution of its inhabitants; yet, for 
some weeks previous to the insurrection, verj'- many were 
flogged, pitch-capped, half hanged, and otherwise tortured, 
to extort confessions of what they did not know, and many 
of their houses and little properties were consumed. Many 
other innocent persons subsequently suffered from confes- 
sions extorted by torture, which, in various cases, the weak- 
ness of human nature could not endure." — Cloney's narra- 
tive of Wexford, p. 10. 

The following is from a speech of the Earl of Moira, in 
the British House of Peers, on the deplorable condition of 
Ireland, in 1797. 

" My Lords, I have seen in Ireland the most disgusting 
tyranny that any naition ever groaned under. I have been 
myself a witness of it in many instances ; I have seen it 
practiced and unchecked; and the results of it have been 
such as I have stated to your lordships. I have said that, 
if such a tyranny be persevered in, the consequences must 
inevitably be the deepest and most universal discontent, 
and even hatred to the English name. I have seen in that 
country a marked distinction made between the English 
and Irish. I have seen troops that have been sent full of 
this prejudice — that every inhabitant in that kingdom is a 
rebel to the British government. I have seen the mOst 
wanton insults practiced upon men of all ranks and condi- 
tions. I have seen the most grievous oppressions exercised, 
in consequence of a presumption that the person wK'o was 
the unfdrtunate object of such oppression was in hostility 
to the government ; and yet that has been done in a part 
of the country as quiet and as free from disturbance 'as the 
city of London. Who states these things, my lords, should, 



Bl ME iRISll REPUBLIC. 

I know, b^ pri^pared with proofs* Many of the j circiiiii- 
stances I know of my own knowledge ; others I have re- 
ceived from such channels as will not permit me to hesitate 
one moment in giving credit to them." (285-6.) 

Can we wonder that-the people of Wexford shoilld rebel 
against the British misrule — no wonder— no wonder that 
Irishmen, to-day, should remember '98 ! But to Cap the 
climax of tyranny and oppression of the ascendency party, 
they burnt the church belonging to Father John Murphy. 
This aroused the indignation of the people, which, like 
some volcano, was for some time collecting its fury, to break 
out with such violence as startled the British government 
and its satellites and hirelings in Dublin castle from their 
self-complacency. The priest, while in sight of his burn- 
ing church, proclaimed to his people, that it was better to 
die, like men, on the battle field, than to submit longer to 
the slow, lingering torture and tyranny of the hireling and 
unholy instruments of British despotism. That it was bet- 
ter to die a thousand deaths than submit longer to British 
outrage ! That they should resist even unto death, the 
blood-stained " beasts " — the Jacobs, Gowans, and Whites, 
—■some of the most outrageous magistrates of Wexford, 
He declared his readiness to lead them to victory qr death. 
This speech was made upon the spot, in sight of the smol- 
dering ruins of his church. Two thousand partriots sprang 
to his and their country's call. In a few hours the multi- 
tude of honest»and industrious people were assembled on the 
memorable Oulart Hill, which lies about midway between 
the sea and the town of Enniscorthy, and eleven miles 
from the city of Wexford, famous in history. On the same 
day, they encountered the North Cork militia, commanded 



'rHfi IRISH REPUBLIC. C5 

by Lieutenant Colonel Foote, and the Wexford yeoman 
cavahy. The patriots fought with that bravery of a peo- 
ple smarting under centuries of wrong ; they routed the 
cavalry, which galloped back to the shire town; they cut 
up the North Cork militia— only the colonel, one sergeant, 
and three privates made good their escape. They, the North 
Cork militia, which was the pass-word of what was wicked 
and outrageous and infamous, were utterly annihilated, to 
be remembered in history only to be despised for deeds of 
wholesale cruelties ! So the people had their revenge. 
Another priest, Father Michael Murphy, finding his church 
plundered, and the altar desecrated by wretches in human 
form, joined the patriots at Kilthomas hill, near Carnew. 
The glare of the bonfires lighted the whole country for 
miles, like so many fires from the Danish watch-towers of 
y^ore. Ilorns were sounded, which filled the midnight air 
with that solemn warning that the people, groaning for 
years under the tyrant's lash, had resolved to be free. 
Horses galloped with the awful news that war had begun 
— civil war, the most alarming and terrible of all wars— 
that neighbor was arrayed against his neighbor. The peo- 
ple had a few pensioners, who had seen service, in their 
youth, fighting for England's supremacy, but now in their 
old age were to aid their countrymen, and give them an 
idea of military experience. The Irish are pre-eminently 
military ; they love war. It takes but a very short time to 
teach Irishmen military science. Their bayonet charge, or 
even their charge with the time-honored pike, makes them 
a terror to the enemy. In the town of Enniscorthy, there 
were within its gates and walls, 300 North Cork, 200 Done- 
gal, 700 local militia, with a strong garrison, with its tow 
9 



()() tHE IRISH REPUBLiC. 

ering rampai'ts and bristling cannon; yet a multitude of 
country people, led on by ages of bloodshed, and slaugh- 
ter, and tyranny, took the town, after four hours fighting ! 
What will not Irishmen do when united ; what power can 
defeat them, with equal numbers, on a fair field! "Ex- 
change officers and we will fight the battle over again," 
may be repeated now, as well as on the fatal banks of the 
Boyne. 

The patriots gained another signal victory over the royal- 
ists at the "Three Rocks " mountain, where they captured 
three howitzers, eleven guns, and several prisoners. The 
patriots formed three camps on the ever and far-famed 
Vinegar Hill. Of the first camp we mention the names of 
the illustrious patriots, Fathers Kearns and Clinch ; of the 
second, Eather Philip Roche and Bagnal Harvey; of the 
third. Fathers John and Michael Murphy. It was agreed 
that the third division should move on Dublin, by way of 
Arklow and Wicklow ; the second to move by Newtown- 
barry, to open a connection with Carlow, Kilkenny, Kildare ; 
the first division was to attack New Ross, and open a com- 
munication with Munster. The northern division, marching 
on to Gorey, were met within four miles of the town by 
General Loftus, who repulsed them, and compelled them to 
fall back. The royal troops following up their victory, 
were ambuscaded at a defile and winding pass — the famous 
Tubbenieering. The road winds its serpentine way through 
a shrubbery, and the road, in the bottom, was embanked 
with a dyke and ditch, behind these fastnesses, and as the 
elated and self-confident Walpole rode along into this trap, 
he was startled with a volley. From the shrubbery, and 
dyke and ditch sprung the pike-men, mowing down their 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC, 67 

foe with their glittering steel, which shone refulgent from 
the rays of the sun. The victory was complete. Walpole 
fell, with several of those who immediately surrounded 
him. The ancient Britons were nearly cut to pieces. The 
patriots captured three guns from the enemy, which they 
turned on the fugitives ; they, also took great spoil, and the 
regimental colors. Had they followed up this victory, they 
might have captured even Dublin itself, were they well 
disciplined ! 

On the 5th of June, the patriot army captured New 
Ross, driving out the royal army, which was 1,400 men 
strong. But here a sad mishap marred the victory ; for 
want of discipline the Irish lost New Ross. Father Philip 
Roche, dissatisfied with Harvey's mismanagement, estab- 
lished a separate command of his own. Here the patriots 
made a mistake in putting the command in the hands of 
such men as Harvey. They always lost by confiding too 
much in aristocratic leaders ! This should be a lesson 
which the Irish should never forget, for the best leaders 
in all ages are those who sprung from the people. Such 
was the case with the great patriots of America— who 
humbled the proud and defiant powerful lion ; they low- 
ered the flag of St. George to make way for the American 
Eagle and the glorious Stars and Stripes. Long may they 
wave. Thus, the loss of Ross prevented the patriots from 
forming a junction with Waterford and the Fort of Dun- 
cannon. In consequence of this, Waterford did not rise, 
as was expected, and, as there was no communication 
with Munster, there was no general uprising ; besides, 
they were awaiting the arrival of a French iieet, with men 
and arms, Wexford was blockaded by the British navy. 



68 >'. THE IRISH REPUBLIC. , ; __ ', 

General Needham left Dublin with a force of 2,000 men. 
The patriots attacked this army at Arklow, where Father 
Michael Murphy fell, at the head of his men, in a fierce and 
brilliant charge. The patriots lost heavily in this battle, 
and were forced to fall back on Vinegar Hill. 

To dislodge this camp, the whole available force of mili- 
tia and regulars, within fifty miles of Vinegar Hill, were, 
l)y the orders of General Lake, the commander-in chief, 
General Dundas, with the Wicklow forces, was to join 
General Loftus, at Carnew. General Needham was to ad- 
vance to Gorey ; General Johnson at Ross, with Sir James 
Duflf and Sir Charles Asgill, was to occupy Gore's bridge ; 
Sir John Moore was to unite with Johnson and Duff to 
attack the camp of Oarrickbyrne. These forces were to 
attack the forces of the patriots on Vinegar Hill, on the 
20th ; but the Irish attacked Sir John Moore on the 20th, at 
Oarrickbyrne. The patriots would have vanquished Moore 
only for the arrival of Lord Dalhousie with Irish reinforce- 
ments. Gen. Needham failed to come up in time to invest 
the hill. The forces of Sir James Duff", Lake, Wilford and 
Dundas attacked the patriot camp at the same time. Af- 
ter a fierce struggle, the patriots retired from the field, by 
the unguarded gap, left open by the non-arrival of Gen. 
Needham. Here the patriot, Father Clinch, fell in a hand 
to hand fight with Lord Radon, whom he wounded, but 
was, at the same time, shot by a hireling trooper. After 
this decisive battle, the patriots scattered — some surren- 
dered; but the authorities violated their plighted faith, 
and the rules and honors of war. Those who surrendered 
were executed, and their bodies hung npon gibbets, and 
their heads put on spears on the court house of Wexford! 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 69 

The military were now let loose on the defenceless inhabit- 
ants. The regulars and savage yeomanry committed acts of 
the most horrid and diabolical cruelty, which stains the an- 
nals of history, ancient or modern. In every civil war, 
mean, low, contemptible and infamous wretches take ad- 
vantage of the times to satiate their low desires — to plun- 
der and to indulge their wicked and depraved hearts, by 
acts of cruelty and despotism. This was the case with 
the local magistrates and yeomanry of Wexford. 

" If the unfortunates who lost their lives at the places 
before mentioned, had been aware of the wanton cruelties 
and cold-blooded murders previously committed on the in- 
dustrious classes, they would have raised their hands to 
God, in their last moments, and invoked his judgment on 
these bad men, whose abominable barbarity was the prin- 
cipal cause of bringing them to a premature and melancholy 
fate. If, at a future period, some accomplished writer 
should consign to the page of history a record of these 
horrible atrocities, may he, in a spirit of impartiality, note 
that the insurgent depot of wounded men was burned, in 
New Ross, by the military ; the insurgent hospital of En- 
niscorthy w^as burned by the yeomanry, with its sick and 
wounded inmates, and that the sick and wounded insur- 
gents in the hospital of Wexford were murdered by the 
military and yeomanry, when they had repossessed them- 
selves of that town, under the command of Gen. Lake." — 
Cloney's Narrative of Wexford, p. 61. 

The same author gives us a further horrible picture of 
the atrocities perpetrated by the hirelings of the British 
power ; thus : 

" The King's troops, or, rather, some infuriated detach- 



to THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

merits that had advanced in pursuit of their retreating op- 
ponents were still engaged in dispatching the wounded 
and stragglers who had not been able to get out of their 
reach, and many of whom sheltered themselves in ditches 
and hedges near the high road. Mercy at this moment was 
out of the question. The Turks are reproached as acting 
with a total disregard for the laws of war and humanity. 
The picture was here nearly realized, except that the in- 
cumbrance of heads and ears returning to camp was omit- 
ted. But indeed they were rebels, and mercy to such, it 
was contended by some, should not be extended by God or 
man."'— Cloney's Narrative of Wexford, p. 68. 

Again, he says, ''■ But Sir Charles reserved his troops for 
an easier victory — the destruction of the defenceless in- 
habitants of an unoffending and most peaceable district!!! 
Men, women, and children were butchered on this day, in 
cold blood ; neither age, sex, infirmity, or innocence could 
obtain exemption from the common fate, and they were 
slaughtered without mercy. Some of the troops were or- 
dered to the houses of the farmers, accompanied by a vil- 
lain named Kelly, who had previously lived in the neigh- 
borhood, who prosecuted some of his neighbors to convic- 
tion, and was now determined to dispatch others of them 
in a more summary and less expensive way. This monster 
enriched himself and his companions by carrying off every- 
thing portable or of sufficient value to gratify their blood- 
thirsty avarice, and the several houses they had robbed, 
before they took their leave, they burned to ashes." 

They killed (at Kilcomney) Thomas Myran and his two 
sons, and robbed and burned their house. They murdered 
Andrew MacKesv and his sons, and burned their house. 



T?HE IRISH REPUBLIC. Ti 

and left two children, both deaf and dumb, without protec- 
tion. They murdered James and Edward Tuit, two broth- 
ers, one of whom was already in bed on the point of death ; 
and murdered James and John Welsh, two brothers, and 
eleven others, near to Scollagh gap, and wounded others 
in flying from their cabins, many of whom afterwards died. 
At Ballynasillogue they murdered eighteen of the inhabit- 
ants, and of the number were five brothers named Neill, 
all living in the same house with a widow, their mother, 
and two female children. The poor widow prostrated her- 
self before the butchers, imploring them to leave her even 
one son to protect herself and her innocent babes. Their 
reply was, that they considered it very merciful to sparil* 
even herself. There were two carpenters, at the time, at 
work at Neill's house, and two neighbors who had just 
walked in, and these were all murdered, making an aggre- 
gate of nine men in the one house. The poor widow soon 
after died of a broken heart, and left her two innocent fe- 
male children unprotected. They murdered, also, on this 
townsland, Peter Kinchela, who, at the time, was surround- 
ed by seven small children crying in vain for mercy. They 
also murdered Darby Ryan, who was so timid as to be 
alarmed at the sight of a red coat at anj'- time ; but he had 
then recently prepared a subterraneous retreat for the 
hour of danger, and on seeing some soldiers coming this 
day, he fled to his cave ; but, unfortunately for him, a 
neighbor, to whom he had shown it, now occupied his in- 
tended retreat ; poor Darby ran from thence to a turf-kish, 
and got under it. Here he was discovered and shot by 
those inhuman butchers. Michael Laffan and his daugh 
ter were shot dead, and his wife received a shot that broke 



1^ *liEl iRISit RIPTJBLIO. 

one of liei tliigli bones ; five of liis neighbors Wei'e also 
shot in his house, and the house set fire to over the dead 
bodies. A poor woman had the melancholy and difiicult 
task to perform, of dragging out the dead bodies to pre- 
vent their being consumed in the flames. In Coshill, near 
this x^lace, there were five men murdered. In Lacken, the 
next townsland, there were seven men murdered, among 
whom were Edmund Joyce and his sons, David, Thomas 
and Andrew, leaving several young children orphans. In 
Spaw Hill Phelim Doyle and Patrick Doran, both aged about 
eighty years, were murdered on the same floor. In the 
same place Patrick Fitzpatrick and his wife Margaret fell 
dead in each other's arms. The poor wife seeing the sav- 
ages approach her husband, ran between them with an in- 
fant at her breast, supporting it with one hand, while she 
threw the other round her husband's neck, crying out for 
mercy for the father of her infant and five other small chil- 
dren. She was repeatedly threatened with death if she did 
not withdraw ; but determined to fall in the arms of her hus- 
band, with the innocent babe between them, she heroically 
kept her ground, and the same bullets ]3ut a period to her 
own and her husband's existence. But here the interposi- 
tion of providence protected the innocent babe, who af- 
terwards heard and described the melancholy fate of its in- 
nocent parents. That child, I am informed, is still living. 
Poor Terence Fitzpatrick! The house of the ill-fated 
couple was set fire to over the heads of the other five chil- 
dren, and the innocent creatures ran into a neighbor's 
house-— who had escaped by secreting himself— crying, 
^^My daddy is killed ! my tnammy is Icilled, and the pigs 
are drinking their hlood/-'' 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 13 

Those six orj)hans were thrown on the protection of a 
poor aunt named Kealy, who begged for them, and brought 
them up under the protection of an All-merciful Providence, 
and with the assistance of charitable neighbors. I believe 
they are still living, to acknowledge the mercy of God and 
the tenderness and affection of poor Joan Kealy, whose 
name will be remembered with respect and admiration, 
while that of the bloody Asgill, the head butcher of the 
day, in that quarter of Ireland, and the names of his inhu- 
man satellites, will be transmitted to all succeeding ages 
with sentiments of horror and execration. About one hun- 
dred and forty persons were slaughtered in the district 
which I have mentioned, leaving, perhaps, four or five 
hundred unprotected orphans, without parent, property, or 
friend, and few of them having relations to contribute to 
their safety or support." — Cloney's Narrative of Wexford, 
pp. 84-5-6. 

Thus, the reader beholds how those cruel and despotic 
tyrants did the bloody work of the English rulers on this 
never to be forgotten scene of slaughter. Can the reader 
wonder that the Irish are not very loyal to the crown of 
Great Britain ? Can the Irish patriots forget '98, without 
wishing for an opportunity to redress the wrongs of their 
dear fatherland ? 

Again, the same author describes the wickedness of the 
blood-thirsty tyrants — the ascendency party of Wexford : 

" It was the interest of some of the petty tyrants there 
at that time, as in other quarters, to keep the country in a 
state of confusion ; bankrupts in fortune and character, the 
most degrading offices, accompanied by a share of public 
spoliation, had nothing in them disagreeable to such gentry. 
10 



^4 '' WIE IRISH REPUBLIC- 

These folks, it must be allowed, acted their parts to the 
life, and without caring for the prosperity of the State, or 
possessing much of genuine loyalty, which they used as a 
watch-word to the sovereign, they dreaded nothing more 
than returning peace, and took every means in their pow- 
er to prolong that anarchy which they labored early to ex- 
cite. Every well disposed man saw, with sorrow, this state 
of things, and looked with indignation and horror on that 
system that he was unwillingly obliged to submit to." — 
Cloney's narative of Wexford, p. 97, 8. 

We will here say that the great mistake made by the pa- 
triots, was to attack the enemy in open-field fights. They 
should have wearied them with ambuscade and desultory 
warfare. They would have tired the patience of the regu- 
lars and destroyed their local tyrants, the blood-stained 
yeomanry. In this way they could have held out till the 
landing of the French in Killala, when they would have 
roused the enthusiasm of the provinces. Had tliey held 
out till reinforced by France, they would have dismembered 
the British Empire ! ! 

Though the patriots could reckon on numbers — though 
their pikes were formidable — their arms were of every de- 
scription and calibre. Their supplies of ammunition were 
scant. They had to carry their powder in horns in their 
pockets, while the royalists were under experienced officers, 
subject to military discipline and subordination, well armed 
and ec[uipped, with cannon, stores, and munitions of war, 
which could be furnished at an hour's notice. The loyalists 
had all the advantages of the tactics of modern warfare,— 
the patriots had nothing but their natural bravery, impetu- 
osity, and love of freedom, and the recollection of centu 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. - 75 

ries of wrongs, and the hope to rid themselves of their 
tyrannical aristocracy and despotic government ! Had the 
patriots been victorious at Arklow, they would have been 
reinforced on their march to Dublin, by the United Irishmen, 
to the very walls of Dublin ; for the United Irishmen were 
in great numbers in Wicklow, Kildare, Meath, and West- 
meath — but they had no point to rally around — they wanted 
a military head to unite the scattered fragments and con- 
solidate its forces. They wanted victory to give them en- 
thusiasm and hope, which would enable them to gain a 
decisive victory over the ancient enemies of Erin ! Had 
the patriots taken Ross, they would have taken Waterford, 
and opened a communication with Tipperary and the rest 
of Munster, where the people were ready to rise en masse. 
This would open a communication with Connaught. Ulster 
was ripe for a revolt. The nation wanted but a concentra- 
tion of forces — a French army with experienced officers, 
to crush the power of England, and give Ireland her station 
among the sisterhood of nations, as a glorious and grand 
republic ! ! But the brave men of Wexford lacked an ex- 
perienced military commander. They lacked an O'Neil, or 
a Sarsfield. For the incompetent Harvey, as did James II. 
at the Boyne, remained a spectator, on a hill, during ten 
hours hard fighting — the battle was lost through his incom- 
petency. Ireland lost the opportunity to gain her inde- 
pendence by trusting to the aristocracy — to the incompetent 
Harvey. For Harvey might have slaughtered the whole 
garrison had he returned with his men the night of the battle 
of Ross, while the garrison was so exhausted that the soldiers 
slept among the dead. This same Harvey should teach 
Irishmen not to choose their leaders from the aristocracy. 



t6 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

They should, remember how the brave heroes of 1783 were 
betrayed by the weak-minded Charlemont. How he dis- 
solved the council of three hundred armed delegates, the 
representatives of 150,000 well armed and disciplined vol- 
unteers, who met at the Rotunda, in Dublin, to resist the 
corruption of the British government, in the unholy etforts 
to steal away the Irish parliament, and to blot out the Irish 
nation from the map of Europe, and reduce her to a province. 
That was a fatal affair for Ireland, for England trembled, 
for then she saw that Ireland had power to sever the con- 
nection between England and Ireland. England felt, then, 
her own weakness — she was surrounded bj^ foes — she was 
humbled hy land and sea. Her empire over the American 
colonies ended — she saw, with an eye of despair, a few poor 
but brave and patriotic, and hardy pioneers, planted in 
America by English despotism and intolerance, rise to the 
dignity of a free and mighty republic ! She feared that 
the Irish would profit by the example of the patriots of 
America. That some Washington would be found among 
them to battle for liberty. To prevent this, England found 
an instrument in the weak, imbecile, and aristocratic Lord 
Charlemont. Irishmen, beware ! do not trust your liberty 
to an aristocracy, who hate equality, democracy, and a free 
republic. How can the Irish but admire the valor of their 
countrymen. Had Harvey the courage of the noble boy of 
thirteen summers, who, seeing the incompetency of the 
Irish commander at the battle of Ross, snatched a standard 
and exclaimed : " Follow me, who dare ! " and dashed down 
the hill with three thousand pike-men, the Irishmen would 
be victorious at Boss ! 
June gj, Qorawallis assumed civil and niilitary power in 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 7t 

Ireland. He appointed Robert Stewart, better known to 
Irishmen, as Lord Castlereagh, as his secretary; because 
" he was so unlike an Irishman." Father John Murphy was 
taken and executed, his body burnt, and his head impaled 
on the market-house of Tullow! Several others of the 
patriots suffered death by military drum-head courts-martial. 
The Wexford rebellion was crushed for the want of money, 
arms, and ammunition, and, as we have said before, for the 
want of discipline and experienced officers ! 

The struggle in Ulster lasted but a little over a week ; 
only the counties of Down and Antrim had a general rising, 
in consequence of some of the leading United Irishmen 
being in prison. The principal engagement was at Ballyna- 
hinch ; the patriot leader, Munroe, was captured and exe- 
cuted at his own door, in Lisburne, in sight of his wife and 
mother ! In Munster the Westmeath yeomanry had an en- 
gagement with the patriots, on the road from Olonakilty to 
Bandon. Thus was the flame of revolution smothered, in 
Leinster, Ulster, and Munster. 



CHAPTER VI. 

We now turn to the old and time-honored kingdom of 
Connaught, which, from the nature of the country and oth- 
er causes, the ascendency party — the vile and hateful oli- 
garchy — had not taken root. They were not annoyed by 
the yeoman cavalry, whom they could defy among their 
mountain fortresses. But the persecution of the ascend- 
.^ncy party in Ulster had driven many fugitives from- 



18 THE IRISH REPUBLIC* 

their homes and firesides to find shelter in the mountains 
of the Kingdom of Oonnaught. Several thousands fled in- 
to Connaught in '95, '96 and '97 from the outrages of the 
ascendency party. They were not slow to depict, in pa- 
thetic colors, their oppressors and oppressions which drove 
them from their native Ulster. They persuaded the peo- 
ple of Connaught, that, with French aid, they would be 
able to establish independence, under the green flag of 
Erin ! The people were thus ripe for revolution, when the 
French landed at Killala Bay, August 22. The French 
landed from three frigates, commanded by Gen. Humbert, 
with 1,000 men and with arms for 1,000 more. The French 
Avere immediately joined by McDonnell, Moore, Belle w, 
Barrett, O'Dowd, O'Donnell, Blake and Plunket. In three 
days the French had completed a lodgment, and had organ- 
ized recruits, and had sent out a party of observation. On 
the fourth day they had taken Oastlebar. 

The intelligence of the landing of the French had spread 
through the country like wildfire. Lord Lake and Gen. 
Hutchinson, with 3,000 men, marched to attack the French 
at Oastlebar. They were attacked by the French and the 
patriots of Oonnaught — the descendants of those whose an- 
cestors had so long and so gloriously defied British tyrants, 
for centuries — -now approached Oastlebar. The royalists 
were posted on advantageous ground with nine pieces of 
cannon. The French drove them, after half an hour's en- 
gagement, panic stricken. They appeared more like an 
armed mob than soldiers. Their flight was so precipitate 
and disgraceful that they left their artillery behind, which 
was captured by the French. In this shameful flight the 
infantry were huddled together. They fled pell mell. 



Some of tliem did not stop until they reached the town of 
Athlone, on the Shannon. Tlie flying fugitives were so 
panic stricken that the occasion is known as " the races." 
The yeomanry lost, killed and wounded or prisoners, 18 of- 
ficers and 350 men, five stand of colors and fourteen Brit- 
ish guns. 

This brilliant French victory roused the dormant spirit 
of the rebellion, whose waves had greatly receded. There 
were 40,000 men ready to assemble to strike a blow for the 
native soil, at Crooked Wood, in the county of Westmeath. 
An army of this magnitude, within 42 miles of Dublin, 
with a spirit of rebellion extending from north to south, 
and from east to west, like some some silent volcano, wait- 
ing for an eruption, startled the government from its com- 
placency. Lord Oornwallis ought to have remembered his 
defeat on the James, at the memorable battle of Yorktown, 
where he was compelled to surrender the flower of the 
British army to the immortal Washington. The scene of 
Yorktown haunted his imagination. He dreaded the French, 
so he called together 20,000 men to oppose 900 Frenchman ! 

The patriots now established a provincial government 
at Castlebar, with Moore as President. A proclamation 
was issued, calling for recruits to be paid by French assig- 
nats, to be repaid by the Irish Republic ! All of the royal 
party moved on Connaught. Sir John Moore and Hunter 
were ordered to the Shannon, from Wexford. Taylor was 
to advance from Sligo, with 2,500 men, on Castlebar. 
Maxwell was ordered from Enniskillen, to occupy Sligo, 
and Nugent was to move from Lisburn and occupy Ennis- 
killen. The Viceroy left Dublin to Killbeggan, and Lake 
and Hutchinson were to attack the French from Tuam. 



80 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

Thus, the French, who were left without m^ans of retreat, 
having sent back the frigates, after the landing, found 
themselves in about the same position which Cortez found 
himself, when he marched to take the city of the Montez- 
uma. Here, cut off from all supplies, a few Frencli vet- 
erans, and a few recruits, were surrounded by thirty thou- 
sand royalists. The French general attempted to reach 
Leitrim, and from thence to Ulster on the north coast, 
where he hoped to get some aid from France. He marched 
from Castlebar to Coolony, in one day — a distance of 35 
miles. Harassed by the militia he reached Ballinamuck, 
in the county of Longford, having marched 110 miles in 
the short space of three and one-half days. Here he was 
forced to make a stand. After fighting with true French 
valor, he surrendered on condition of being sent to France. 
No quarters were given to the patriots — many were sabred 
and others were executed — such was their insatiable thirst 
for human gore ! At the capture of Killala hundreds of 
the innocent and defenceless inhabitants, who had never 
taken up arms, were butchered in cold blood! What won- 
der that the Irish should hope for the time when they can 
sever the last link which binds Ireland to that accursed 
throne of blood-stained and tyrannical Britain ! 

Napper Tandy, with a single armed brig, landed on Rath- 
lin Island, where he issued a proclamation with the glorious 
date, " the first year of Irish liberty." On discovering the 
fate of Humbert, he returned to France. Tlieobald Wolfe 
Tone sailed from Brest, with a French fleet under Admiral 
Bourpart, with one ship carrying 74 guns, eighteen fri- 
gates and two small vessels. They steared for Lough 
Swilly, where they met a British fleet, which had followed 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 81 

them for several days. After an engagement of six hours 
the Hoche was disabled, and was compelled to surrender, 
with three frigates — the rest of the fleet got safe to France. 
"Wolfe Tone was recognized by Sir George Hill, an old 
college friend. He was taken to Dublin and sentenced by 
court martial, to be hanged. He only begged that he 
might receive the death of a soldier, " to be shot by a pla- 
toon of Grenadiers.'" This favor being denied him, he at- 
temped to commit suicide. He lingered of his wounds for 
a week, and died, on the 19th day of November, 1798. This 
closed the memorable year of 1798. Lord Edward Fitzger- 
ald died of the wounds received in the house of Oliver 
Bond, in his conflict with those who arrested him, Sirr, 
and the infamous scoundrel, villain and brutal ruffian, 
Swan. The name of Swan will be ever associated with 
that of the traitor Arnold. Had the fortunes of war been 
more propitious to the cause of the patriots ; had the 
French fleet landed in Ireland and displayed the same 
bravery as Humbert after he landed in Killala, immediate- 
ly after the victory of Arklow, there would be a general 
rising of the people in the four provinces of Munster, 
Leinster, Ulster, and Connaught. The patriots fresh li'om 
the victory of Arklow,, could liave taken Dublin, Water- 
ford and Killkenny. The English power would for ever be 
broken in Ireland. It would be such a decisive victory as 
Brian gained over the Danes at Clontarf. The English 
would be remembered as the Danes now are, merely for 
their despotism and tyranny and oppression ! 

England was then saved by her old ally the winds, — but 
she cannot now rely on winds or weather. The winds will 
no longer protect her. Steam will yet enable some power 
11 



82 THE IRISir MPUBLIC. 

to send a fleet to Ireland ! Then will the Irish be able to 
fight over again the lost cause of 1798 ! The darkest hour 
is before midnight. We now behold the clouds of oppres- 
sion over Ireland showing a brighter aspect. Let us inscribe 
on our banner the memorable motto of the patriot Wolf 
'^^owey.^'- Qiil desperandumy Let us always impress on the 
minds of the rising youth of the land, that eternal vigilance 
is the price of liberty. We must be united, and when some 
happy moment, in the tide of time, gives Ireland an oppor- 
tunity, let her be ready to strike the decisive blow. En= 
gland cannot be always prosperous — no nation can. Where 
is the mighty power of the Assyrians, Modes, Persians, 
Egyptians, Greeks, and Imperial Rome. They now belong 
to the past. They live only in history. Their light went 
out. Rome fell by the weight of her own power and great- 
ness. England will share the same fate as those empires. 
She who has been the oppressor of nations, will one day 
be oppressed in turn — " He who kills by the sword, must 
be killed by the sword ; and he who leads into captivity, 
must be led into captivity." Let England be warned in 
time — ^why should she be exempt from the fate of other 
nations ? No, no, her destiny is fixed. Her doom is cer- 
tain ; for she will be humbled. " The greater the height, the 
greater the fall.'"' England now stands on the pinnacle of 
prosperity and greatness, and power, from which she soon 
will receive such a fall, from which she can never recover ! 
The only thing that may save her from her impending doom 
is to do justice to Ireland. Give to Ireland her lost liberty, 
and Irishmen will forgive the past. Let Englishmen, of the 
democratic school, unite with the democrats of Ireland to 
annihilate kingly power — to abolish aristocracy in England 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. S3 

and IrelancL Let the toiling millions of England and Ire- 
land raise the standard of freedom for both countries — a 
free Republic for England, and a free Republic for Ireland ! 
God save the people!! Look at Spain: once her flag 
flaunted over Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Austria, and 
part of Italy — she had empires in the new world. Her 
galleons came to her shores loaded with the precious ores 
of Peru and Mexico. She was then the first power in Eu- 
rope. Where, now, are her foreign possessions — where her 
mighty navy — where her wealth and power. Ah, let the 
government of England take warning from the fate of 
Spain ! The Irish must be free — her glorious Sunburst 
must be unfurled over the Castle of Dublin ! 

Taking advantage of the great rebellion, which was 
brought on by the despotism of the Castle oligarchy and 
their minions, the local magistrates and the brutish yeo- 
manry, Pitt laid his plan for a Union. His favorite plan 
was, to unite the legislature of Ireland witlr that of En- 
gland. This ambitious minister chose as his agents the 
dogmatical, fiery, proud, arrogant, and uncompromising Lord 
Clare ; and the sneaking, adroit, insidious, and polished 
Robert Stewart, Lord Castlereagh. The corrupt and cun- 
ning but faithless Castlereagh has well earned the curse of 
posterity. His name stands in history as a monument of 
shame. The people point to his grave with the finger of 
scorn, and say here lies a traitor to his country ! His name 
will always be associated with that of Dermond McMur- 
rough as an arch traitor and unprincipled villain, and un- 
mitigated scoundrel ! 

On Lord Cornwallis' arrival the parliament assembled 
which was soon to commit suicide. Both Houses voted 



84 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

loyal addresses to the King and the Lord Lieutenant. One 
million pounds were liberally voted to those who had suf- 
fered from the insurgents, without a dissenting voice. In 
July a code of penalties and proscription, was passed. An 
act was passed to indemnify all the unprincipled magis- 
trates, who had " exercised a vigor beyond the law.'' Here 
we find a Parliament deliberately legalizing the barbarous 
outrages committed on the defenceless people. Acts of 
cruelty which would make demons blush! Such is the 
deplorable condition of a country, when a petty oligarchy 
rules with a high hand a whole nation, hj brute force of 
foreign bayonets — not by their own power but by the pow- 
er of the British throne. Those colonial usurpers knew 
that they held in their grasp the lands and homes of the 
natives. That their possession of these lands might be dis- 
turbed if England lost her dominion over Ireland! No 
wonder they should show such feverish anxiety whenever 
the Irish patriij^^ts attempted to gain their independence. 
In the Irish Parliament an act was passed for the attainder 
of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. An act of banishment was 
passed. An act was also passed inaugurating the terrors 
of martial law. An act was passed to compel certain ref- 
ugees abroad to surrender. And to cap the climax, the 
king commanded that the name of Henry Grattan be 
struck from the roll of the Irish Privy Council ! This fool- 
ish old king was frantic with rage and prejudice against 
everything Irish — indeed it spoiled his digestion. Ireland 
hung over his benighted imagination like the pall of death. 
He was, indeed, the poor old Brunswicker, a perfect hater 
of the Irish nation. We must here remark that England, 
in 1798, violated her plighted faith solemnly pledged to 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 85 

Ireland in 1782. This should be a warning to Irishmen for 
ever. The Irish could, in 1782, sever the link which bound 
them to England, and follow the example of Washington 
and his compatriots and nobly strike for eternal separation. 
For the Irish nation had then an army able to cope with 
England in the hour of her weakness. Ah, but they put 
their trust in England, they believed she would have kept 
her word. Had they not the example of Limerick before 
them — could they not have remembered England's perfidy 
— could they not remember "the city of the violated 
treaty." 

We will now come to another act that revived the spirit 
of rebellion in Ireland. The people who were goaded by 
the despotism of the local magistrates, as well as by the 
judges. For Lord Norbury was a second Jeffries! This 
legal Nero, together with the t7i7'ee Majors^ was more cruel 
than the pagans of yore. The reign of the " three Ma- 
jors" will never be forgotten by the "people of Dublin — 
the vulgar, brutal, vile, villainous, bloody and unprincipled 
viper Swan ; the perfidious and base scoundrel Sirr ; and 
the cut-throat Sandys, were the terror of the people of 
Dublin during this reign of terror. These brutes in hu- 
man form, whose names will be ever odious to the people 
of Ireland for their fiendish outrages on the unarmed and 
innocent people, during those evil times of rigor and des- 
potism — those three ruffians were militia oflicers and were 
the rulers of Dublin, under the renegade Castlereagh, 
They had, as satellites, a band of informers and spies, 
known as the " Battalion of Testimony." Those reckless, 
depraved and infamous wretches were known as the " Ma- 
jors' people," They had their quarters under the windows 



86 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

of the Secretary, Oastlereagh, in the Castle of Dublin, 
even under the windows of the Lord Lieutenant's palace. 
One of those quarters are known to the present day as the 
"Stag House."" The bloodhound Swan and his confede- 
rates used every device known to refined cruelty to extort 
confession from persons merely suspected of being United 
Irishmen. His murderous triangle was erected under the 
very window of the vile and infamous Oastlereagh, where 
he could hear the moans of the people, while flogged and 
tortured to death. This villain Swan took exquisite delight 
in scourging his unfortunate victims — he made free use of 
the pitch-cap. He was a demon in human clothing. He 
was more of a villain and cut-throat than the viper " Tom 
the Devil !'' 

Indeed, I am of opinion that this viper Swan was a rela- 
tive and of the same family as the infamous " Tom the 
DevilP The "Major's" people broke into houses, under 
the pretense of searching for obnoxious persons and papers 
— in one instance they took possession of a silver cup be- 
cause it had engraved on it the words Erin Go Bragh ! 

The Irish never lost hope of a French invasion until the 
great Napoleon was sent to St. Helena. A young man 
of twenty-four years was the chief actor in the next rebel- 
lion. This was Robert Emmett, whose name will ever be 
associated with the names of all true Irish patriots. Em- 
mett, with nineteen others, was expelled from Trinity Ool- 
lege, in 1798, by orders of the haughty Lord Olare. He 
had traveled through Holland, France, Spain and Switzer- 
land. In 1803, after a peace of twelve months, a declara- 
tion of war was proclaimed, at London, between England 
and France. In anticipation of this hostility Emmett had 



^J'ttE IRISH REPUBLIC. ST 

returned to Bublin, in 1802, to establish the organization of 
the United Irishmen. 

By the permission of Bonaparte, McNevin and others 
formed a legion in France. Arthur O'Connor and Thomas 
Addis Emmett remained in Paris as plenipotentiaries of the 
Irish Republic. Bonaparte suggested that the patriots 
should raise, when fighting on their own soil, a tri-color flag 
with the inscription, the initials R. I., Republique Irelandise 
— L'lndependence de I'Irelande — Liberti de Conscience. 
Robert Emmett was sanguine to enthusiasm that nineteen 
counties would rise after his return to Dublin. And if he 
got the forces he expected from France, his fond and most 
cheerful anticipations would be realized. His plan was to 
surprise the castle of Dublin and seize the authorities. 
They expected that a French invasion would draw off the 
regular army. But the plan was discovered and Emmett 
arrested. His trial and death speech has immortalized his 
name. His speech is read with rapture and enthusiasm, 
which still inspires the youth of Ireland with fond hopes 
that they may see their country free, and Robert Emmett's 
epitaph written ! His name is associated with that of the 
heroes, Owen Roe O'Neil and Hugh Roe O'Donnell. Thomas 
Moore and Washington Irving have done honor to his name 
and memory. The true and noble minded Irish, both in 
Ireland and America, will always honor the memory of 
Robert Emmett ! Thus ended the great jjarty of United 
Irishmen, but the spirit of liberty has not expired. The 
deeds of the United Irishmen will always stimulate Irish- 
men to strike for the freedom and independence of their 
dear fatherland !! ! 

" Not on the battle field, not in the prison van, 
The noblest place for man to die, ig where he dies for man," 



88 THE IRISH EEPUBLIC. 



CHAPTER VII. 

We will here give an account of the massacres of Wex- 
ford, in 1798, from an eye witness : — 

" Statement of outrages perpetrated by the magistracy, 
yeomanry, and king's troops, in the county of Wexford, in 
the year 1798 :— 

Page 64. Driscol, a hermit, from Camlin Wood, flogged 
and half-hanged three times by Tottenham's Ross yeomen. 
— Alexander. ------- 1 

Page 65. Fitzpatrick, a country school-master, flogged 
by same. — Ditto. ------- 1 

Dennis M. Donnell dropped dead in a grove, near Mr, 
Gordon's house,^with fear of being flogged. — Gordon. 1 

Doctor Healey, a most respectable and inoffensive gen- 
tleman and physician, flogged almost to death by the Ross 
yeomen. — Hay. - - - ----- 1 

Flogged by a corps of yeomen, under the superintend- 
ance of a magistrate in the neighborhood of Enniscorthy, 
as it appeared on the trial of Appeals at Wexford, under 
the Insurrection Act, on the 23d of May, 1798.— Private 
memoranda. -------- 17 

Page 70. Flogged to death by Hunter Gowan's yeomen, 
a peasant, whose finger was brought into Gorey by Gowan, 
on the point of his sword.— Hay. - - - - 1 

Page 76. Burned from its roots by Tom the Devil, of 
the South Cork militia, the hair of Mr. Perry's head, who 
was afterwards hanged. — Hay. _ - - - 1 

Flogged and pitch-capped in the town of Carnew, before 
the insurrection.'—Private mem. - - - - 14 



'IHE IRISH REI>UBL1C. 89 

Page 7S, Flogged almost to death by a corps of yeo- 
men, commanded by a magistrate at Ballaghkeene, on the 
24th of May, 1798.— Hay. - . ... 2 

Page 79. Hanged in the town of Enniscorthy by the 
yeomen, previous to the insurrection, without trial. — Hay. 2 

Shot by the Wexford yoemen cavalry, in cold blood, the 
day they arrested John Calclough. — Hay. - - G 

Shot at Dunlaven, by the yeomanry, Avithout a trial.— 
Hay. ---...--- 34 

Page 76. Shot on the 28th of May, 1798, in the ball- 
alley, at Carnew, without any form of trial. — Hay. 28 

Shot by Hawetry White's yeomen, on the 27tli of May, 
between Oulart and Gorey, men and boys. — Hay. - 22 

Page 135. Shot in Gorey, by the Tinnehely and AV^ing- 
field yeomanry, and without trial, 11 farmers, who had. 
been taken out of their beds within 6 miles and a half of 
the town. — Hay. - - - - - - - 11 

Page 150. Shot by the military, at New Ross, General 
Harvey's Aid e-de Camp, Mr. Matt Furlong. — Private mem- 
oranda. -_..---- - 1 

Hanged in Enniscorthy, a drummer of the North Cork 
militia, for refusing to beat liis drum to the tune of the 
Boyne Water. — Hay. _-.---! 

Page 153. Burned by the military, at New Ross, wound- 
ed men who had taken refuge there during the battle. — 
Hay. --.....-- 78 

Page 158. Shot by the yeomen of Gorey in his own 
garden, Mr. Kenny of Ballycanew. — Hay. - - 1 

Shot by the Newtownbarry yeomen, in the town, after the 
retreat from Vinegar Hill, and left in the streets to be torn 
by pigs. — Hay. _ . . . . - 9 

12 



■;)0 'in^ Irish republic. 

Shot by Ogle's Blues at Mayglass, in running away from 
Wexford. — Hay. .--.---- 2 

Shot hy the military and yeomen at the same place, sev- 
en men and four women. — Hay. - '"■ ! -' • : - - 11 

Page 165. Shot near Scarawalsh, an idiot, nepliew to 
the parish priest. — Hay. ------ i 

Violated and murdered, near Ballaghkeene, by the Ham- 
perch Dragoons, after the retreat from Vinegar Hill, seven 
young women. — Private memoranda. - - - T 

Bayoneted in Enniscorthy, after the defeat at Vinegar 
Hill, by the military, twelve men and three women. — Pri- 
vate mem., ; - - - - - - - - 15 

Murdered in the neighborhood of Limerick Plill, by the 
army encamped there. — Private mem. - - - 13 

Burned in the Insurgent Hospital at Enniscorthy, by the 
military and yeomen, after the defeat at Vinegar Hill. 
— Private mem. ------- 70 

Shot by the yeoman infantry and cavalry, in cold blood, 
in the retreat from Kiilthomas Hill. — Private mem. 42 

Murdered on the road between Vinegar Hill and Gorey, 
after the defeat of the insurgents, by the yeomanry, sixteen 
men, nine women, six children. — Private mem. - 31 

Murdered in the Hospital of Wexford, by the yeomen and 
military, after General Lake entered the town, sick and 
^vounded men. — Private mem. - - - - 57 

Shot hj the yeomanry in the village of Aughrim, nine 
men and thi-ee women. — ^Private mem. - . - - 13 

Shot at Moneyhore, at Mr., Cloney's house, a very old 
sportsman, who came from the county Carlow, to inquire 
for the author called Shawn E,ooe, alias John Doyle. — Pri- 
vate mem. ----.--- 1 



Tlii; IRISH REPUBLIC. 91 

• 

Shot at. the same place, an aged and most innocent ajid 
inoffensive man with a large family, Richard MuUett, and 
while struggling for death, a pike thrust through his nose 
into his head, by which he died in the most excruciating 
torture. — Private mem. - - . _ . . i 

Shot by the Kings Oounty militia and some yeomanry, 
near CarrigreAV, disarmed insurgents, — Private mem. 28 

Shot by the military, near Killoughrim Woods, industrious, 
inoffensive farmers, entirely unconnected with the persons 
concealed in those woods. — Private mem. - - 38 

Murdered b}^ the supplementary yeomen, alias the black 
mob, between Gorey and Arklow, seventeen men and five 
women. — Private mem. - - - , - . 22 

Men, women and children, - - - - - 726 
Murdered at Kilcomney, by Sir 0. AsgilFs troops, at 

least, - - - - _ - - - - - • 140 

866 
— Cloney, 216-17-18 and 19. 

A list of lioman Catholic chapels burned by the military 
and yeomanry, in the county of Wexford, in the years 
1798, 1799, 1800 and 1801; 

Boolovogue, 27th of May, 1798, - - - - 1 
Maylass, 30th May, -----_ i 

Ramsgrange, 19th June, - - - - - 1 

Drumgoold, 21st June, - - - - - 1 

Ballymurrin, 21st June, - - - - 1 

Gorey, 24th August, - _ . . _ | 

Anacurragh, 2d September, - - - - - 1 
Crane, 17th September, - - . . . i 



92 THE IJIISH EEPUBLIC. 



Rock, 12th October, - ----- 1 

Ballydtiff, 10th October, ----- i 

Riverchapel, 10th October, - - - - - 1 

Monaseed, 25th October, ----- l 

Olologue, 26th October, - - - - - 1 

Killereny, 11th November, - - - 1 

Ferns, 18th November, - - - - - - % 

Oulard, 28th October, - . . - . i 

Castletown, 28th October, - - - - - 1 

Ballygarret, 15th January, 1799, - - - - 1 

Ballynamoneybegg, 18th January, - - - 1 

Askamore, 24th February, - - - - 1 

Murrintown, 24th April, - - - - - 1 

Mona Moling, 3d May, - - - - - 1 

Kilrush, 15th May, - - - - - - 1 

Marshalstown, 9th June, - - - - - 1 

Monti er, 10th June, - - - - - - 1 

Crossabeg, 24th June, - - . - . l 

Kilenurin, 29th June, - - - - - - 1 

Monagier, 1st July, - - - - - - 1 

Glanbryan, 13th March, 1800, - - - - 1 

Kaim, 13th March, - - - - - - 1 

Ballymakesy, - - . - - - - - 1 

Courtnacuddy. 12th August, 1801, - - - 1 



o 



3 



Davidstown, set tire to but saved. 

Burned thirty-three Roman Catholic chapels. 

One church old Ross burned in consequence of the mur- 
der of an unarmed and inoffensive Catholic by the Ross 
yeomen,"-— Oloney, pp. 220-21. 

« 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

THE MEMORY OF THE DEAD. 

A ir — Auld Lany Sync. 
I. 

" Who fears to speak of JSTinety-Eight ? 

Wbo blushes at the name ? 
When cowards mock the patriots' fate, 

Who hangs his head for shame ? 
He's all a knave, or half a slave, 

Who slights his country thus ; 
But a true man, like you, man, 

Will fill your glass with us. 

II. 

" We drink the memory of the brave, 

The faithful and the few — 
Some lie far off beyond the wave, 

Some sleep in Ireland, too ; 
All — all are gone — but still lives on 

The fame of those who died ; 
All true men, like you, men, 

Remember them with pride. 

m. 

•' Some on the shores of distant lands 

Their weary hearts have laid, 
And by the stranger's heedless hands 

Their lonely graves were made. 
But, though their clay be far away 

Beyond the Atlantic foam — 
In true men, like you, men, 

Their spirit's still at home. 

IV. 

" The dust of some is Irish earth ; 

Among their own the rest; 
And the same land that gave them birth 

Has caught them to her breast ; 
And we will pray that from tlieir clay 

Full many a race may start 
Of true men, like you, men. 

To act as brave a part. 

V. 

" They rose in dark and evil days 
To right their native land ; 



94 • ' THE IfelSHt BEPUBLIC. 

■ ■ I ' ' ' 
They kindled here a living blase 

That nothing shall withstand. 
Alas ! that Might can vanquish Right— 

They fell and passed away : 
But true men, like you, men, 

Are plenty here to-day. 

VI. 
" Then here's their memory— may it be 
For us a guiding light, 
To cheer our strife for liberty. 

And teach us to unite. 
Through good and ill, be Ireland's still, 

Though sad as their's your fate ; 
And true men be you, men, 
Like those of Ninety-Eight." 

— Sjnrit of the Nalion. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

IRISH EXILEvS ABROAD. 

Treachery of St. Laurence — Irish patriots go into exile— 
The homes of Irishmen occupied by strangers — Exiles 
join the armies of France and Spain — The exiles invade 
Ireland— Tyrone's rebellion — The rebellion of 1641 — 
England the violator of treaties — Owen Roe O'Neil — 
Siege of Limerick — Irish valor on the battle fields of 
Europe — Sarsfield— Fontenoy — Penal lavv^s — Treaty of 
Limerick — The Irish settlers of America^ — Irish patriot- 
ism — Irish valor in America — Irishmen fought in the 
war of the American Revolution, and the war of 1812 — 
Jatkson's victory at New Orleans — Irish exodus — Irish 
men in the United States — The Kings of England viola- 
ted their promises — Character of King William HI. — 
Treaty of Limerick — Test oaths — Rump Parliament — 
Catholics excluded from office — England violates her 
promises — Castlereagh — Irish independence. 

The Irish Exiles Ahroad. — After the treacherous plot 
of St. Laurence, the O'Neil, O'Donnell and Maguire had to 



THE lEISlI ilEPUBLIC< 05 

My to the contiilftnt, where they detailed, the s^xi griev- 
ances of Ireland, for centuries. They set forth their griev- 
ances under the Plantagenets and Tudors, but in particular 
under the despotism of the renegade, James I., who had 
robbed them of their ancient patrimony, giving the same 
to strangers. Those princes of the old Milesian line, the 
representatives of the kings of Ulster, whose names rouse 
the hearts of the Irish with enthusiasm, when we read of 
their noble deeds of valor in many a battle field again'^t the 
tyrannical invaders. The tales of Irish woes and sufferings 
became the theme of comment and enlisted the sympathy 
of the rulers of France, Spain, Austria, and Rome, in favor 
of the illustrious exiles, who, to save their lives from the 
wiles of the " undertakers," resorted to voluntary expatri- 
ation. Yet they held out hopes to their countrymen, that 
at some future time Ireland would, by the aid of foreign 
powers, banish the " undertakers " from the homes of the 
Milesians! Those noble exiles, who looked back from for- 
eign shores, in their dreams, on the land of their fathers— 
the scenes of their childhood, youth, and manhood ; on the 
graves of their fathers. Oh! how they yearned to breathe 
the pure air of their native mountains. Their prayers were 
that Ireland should be free, and tliat their posterity would 
hurl from power the tyrants and usurpers, who had now 
occupied the fair lands of their native Ulster! The bard 
of the house of Tyrconnell, the gifted Owen Mac Ward 

pours forth the following poetic strain : . ; . 

• f , ,1' ■ 
'■• Woe to the heart that meditated, woe to the mind tliat 

conceived, woe to the council that decided on the project 

of that voyage! " 

But the illustrious and noble exiles were not destined to 



9(5 THE iRlsM Republic. 

either Wi-eak Vengeance on their oppressors and tii6 op- 
pressors of their dear country, or to revisit their native 
shores. The noble and high-minded O'Donnell died at 
Rome ; Maguire at Genoa ; and the immortal O'Neil, blind 
and careworn — broken down by the toils, cares, and hard- 
ships of war at home, expired at Rome, lamented by his 
countrymen, as the last prince of the descendants of Nial 
the Grand. What could they do less than lament for the 
fate of that noble hero, the terror of Queen Elizabeth ! 
The Irish, wlio were plundered of their homes — who beheld 
strangers occupying those hills and sloping vales — those 
fertile fields and blossoming meadows, with castles and an- 
cient monuments — with groves and orchards — whose towns 
flourished on magnificent rivers and silvery streams, or al- 
most enchanted lakes, made sacred and endearing from 
•thousaiids of legends. The old and venerable places of 
learning and sacred grounds, all now occupied or desecrated 
by a swarm of invaders and " undertakers," who had thus 
intruded into the homes of others. It v/as but natural that 
the natives of Ulster, when the fortunes of war perched 
on their banners, would visit the " undertakers " with ven- 
geance, and exterminate them and drive them from their 
homes and from the green isle, as Brian drove the Danes ! 
This and the tyranny of the British Government, which 
aimed at nothing short of the total extermination of the 
whole Irish race, led to the rebellion of 1641. The English 
Government found that many of the Irish, who were 
robbed at home, of their estates, and deprived of tlie 
right of liberty of conscience — driven homeless exiles in- 
to foreign lands — joined the armies of France and Spain 
and distinguished themselves in the science of war. How 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 97 

little did the " undertakers " think that those homeless ex- 
iles, who had become strangers in a strange land, would re- 
visit the green hills of their youth to strike a blow at Brit- 
ish cruelty and misgovernment, and to make a noble effort 
for the redemption of Ireland from British thralldom, for 
the cause of civil and religious liberty. 

We find in the service of Philip III. of Spain, the sons 
of the 'illustrious house of O'Neil, preparing to strike a blow 
at the ancient but terrible foe of Ireland. The Earl of 
Tyrone had two sons, Henry and John, who commanded the 
Irish legions, then in the service of Spain. The most illus- 
trious and distinguished military character in that legion — 
one whose name has become famous in Irish histoiy — who 
was a terror to the English government and the "undertak- 
ers " — this brave patriot was Owen Roe O'Neil. He was 
the nephew of Tyrone. By his genius and valor he was 
raised to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. The Irish exiles 
in foreign services, in 1630, had attracted the attention of 
the lynx-eyed spies of the British Government. They re- 
ported that " 100 Irish officers, able to command compa- 
nies, and 20 fit to be Colonels, were in the Spanish Neth- 
erlands. They speak of many others as Engineers and 
Captains, of both Milesian and Norman Irish, at Lisbon, 
Florence, Naples and Milan — that they were provided with 
arms — that they had in readiness five or six hundred stands 
of arms, laid up in the Antwerpt, for that jjurpose, bought 
out of the deduction of their monthly pay." So to the 
Irish legion may be attributed the stand that the Spaniards 
made at Louvian, after the Spanish defeat at Avien, which 
saved the Spanish power in Belgium. Owen Roe O'Neil 
with his undaunted courage, held Arras, the capital of 



98 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

Artois, while besieged by the French, under the eye of the 
King of France! and only surrendered on honorable 
terms, when they found that they could not be reinforced. 
This noble and chivalrous O'Neil gave eclat to the Irish at 
liome and abroad, and roused them to make one more no- 
ble effort for the freedom and independence of Ireland. 
The great projector and agent of the exiles for their return 
to their native land — not with petitions and loyal addres- 
ses to the throne — not for the purpose of humble supplica- 
tion, on bended knees, at the throne of Koyalty, oh, no ! 
for they had turned petitions into gun wadding — their ora- 
tions were from the cannon's mouth — their arguments the 
sword — their appeals to the God of battles ! this agent was 
the famous " Roger O'Moore," or " Rory O'Moore," famed 
both in prose and verse. In 1641, Captain O'Neil was dis- 
patched to Ireland by John Earl of Tyrone, for calling on 
the old followers of the house of O'Neil, to prepare for a 
general uprising for the liberation of their native land, 
and for their ancient rights. He brought the welcome in- 
telligence that they would have supplies of arms and mon- 
ey from France. He was dispatched again to France with 
the promise of Sir Fhelim O'Neil and his friends, that they 
would be ready to strike for the freedom of Ireland on tlie 
first day of November. 

On the death of John O'Neil the command of the exiles 
devolved wpon Owen Roe O'Neil, of happy memory, who 
kept alive by his valor and genius the war of the con- 
federates, until he gained the famous, memorable and 
decisive battle of Benburb. Had O'Neil lived he would 
be an over match for Cromwell, and would have checked 
the cruelties of the infamous butcher. We must always 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. ' 99 

point with pride and fond remembrance to the exiles of 
that time, who make such a noble and conspicuous figure 
in the civil war of 1641. Indeed they were the moving- 
spirits of that memorable insurrection— from which En- 
gland should learn a lesson. It was but natural that the 
expatriated O'Neils should make an effort for the freedom 
of their country, and to regain their lost estates, in 1641. 
Let England remember that the spirit of the O'Neils only 
slumbers — it will again disturb the composure of British 
rulers. The Irish should remember that England only eased 
her chains when it was wrought by force. When did she 
show any wish to extend either civil or religious liberty, 
but when forced in battle at the cannon's mouth — wrought 
from her in many hard fought battles from 1641 to 1649. 
Not then with a good grace, but in the hour of royal dis- 
comfiture, weakness and despair. The treaty of 1649 was 
soon after violated ; in the hour of royal prosperity and se- 
curity England is, indeed, a truce breaker, a crime detested 
even by pagans ! The Indians of North America, have 
adhered to their treaties, with more firmness, truth and 
honor than England ! Irishmen will look back with fond 
recollections on the Irish exiles' campaigns in the wars of 
Spain, Germany, France and classic Italy, and with a self- 
reliance and self-denial which should teach us to follow 
their example, saving their earnings to purchase arms for the- 
freedom of Erin. Let the bright and patriotic example of 
Owen Roe O'Neil and his brethren in exile, prompt the ex- 
patriated sons of Erin to follow their noble and heroic 
example and patriotism, virtue, and love of the land of 
their sires ; and Irishmen will be respected at home and 
abroad, and God v/ill eventually deliver them from the vile 



loo TEE IRISH EEPUBLIC. 

hands of their cruel oppressors. Let the Irish parents 
teach their children to revere the noble Irish exiles, who 
not only won the everlasting praise and grateful remem- 
brance of their own countrymen, but that of continental 
Europe and the world. Their names shine forth in letters 
of light, in the history of Europe, as foremost in the ranks 
of valor ! They returned to their native land with arms in 
their hands, " besieging not beseeching." We may say of 
their memory, esto perpetua. 

We may chronicle the second landing of the exiles at the 
siege of Limerick. The famous Balldearg O'Donnell, re- 
turned from Spain to strike a blow for his country at the 
siege of Limerick. This representative of the illustrious 
house of Tyrconnell had at his command 8,000 recruits. 
This great commander, the grandson of an Irish prince, 
seeing the cause of Ireland betrayed — and not caring as 
much for King James as for the cause of Ireland, re- 
turned to Spain. It was stipulated at the surrender of Lim- 
erick that the garrison was to march out with arms and bag- 
gage, with " colors flying, drums beating and matches light- 
ing." Four thousand five hundred marched with Sarsfield 
and embarked for France. Four thousand seven hundred 
sailed in a French fleet under D'Usson and De Tesse for 
France ; three thousand sailed with Wauchop ; they, with 
Mountcastle's brigade, gave the French king an army of 
25,000 Irish veteran soldiers, with their bosoms heaving 
with a holy indignation against their old opjDressor. These 
Irish exiles landed in Brest, where they were received with 
honor, and had the rights of French subjects extended to 
them. Many of these noble exiles rose to eminent posi- 
tions in diplofflacy and war. Many of the descendants of 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. lOl 

those families are now, to this day, some of the most con- 
spicuous characters in France. The O'Neils and McMa- 
hons, who won military glory .in the wars of Napoleon the 
Third, in the Austrian and Kussian campaigns. Though the 
Irish was defeated at home they were acknowledged " one 
of the most warlike of nations." A noble but just tribute 
from their adversaries. 

We will now follow the military career and fortunes of 
the Irish exiles. The soldiers of Meath and Leinster, com- 
manded by the Nugents and Kavanaghs, joined the army 
of the Emperor of Austria, who was an ally of King Wil- 
liam, in the coalition against France. We find those Irish, 
who distinguished themselves under Prince Eugene, fight- 
ing, as the ally of William, against France. (This was 
sadness itself.) The O'Donnells, the O'Riellys, and the 
O'Garas, joined the standard of Spain. They signalized 
themselves at the memorable and decisive battle of Al- 
manza. Spain had in her service five regiments; three 
foot and two dragoons. But the grand theatre, where the 
Irish brigades immortalized themselves, was in the army 
of France, under the famous Turenne, on the Rhine ! They 
made themselves famous on the battle fields of Savoy and 
Italy, under Justin McCarthy, Lord Mountcastle. 

In 1693 they defeated the allies, killing Duke Schomberg. 
So they had retrieved the battle of the Boyne, which was 
fought by the elder Schomberg ! Indeed, the memory of 
the battles on Irish soil stimulated the Irish brigades abroad 
to retrieve their losses and to wipe out the foul calumny of 
King James, who said that the Irish could run well — though 
he himself had won the race ! Sarsfield's brigade was em- 
ployed in Flanders, under Luxembourg, against King Wil- 



102 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

liam's army at Namur and Enghien. For his great valor, 
Sarsfield was promoted to Mareschal-de-camp. France de- 
feated the common enemy, July 29, 1693. But while the 
brave Sarsfield was leading his men to victory, with the 
talismanic words, " Remember Limerick," he was mortally 
wounded. As he lay on the ground, prostrate, he took hold 
of some of his blood, and exclaimed " Oh, that this was for 
Ireland ! " 

The exiles distinguished themselves at the battle of Ra- 
millies. There were in the service of Louis XIV, 30,000 
Irishmen ; and during that century at least 450,000 Irishmen 
died in the armies of France, Oh, if they had died for Ire- 
land ! The Irish exiles fought against the tyrants of En- 
gland in the reigns of William, Anne and the Georges. They 
revenged the battles of the Boyne and Limerick, at Al- 
manza, Cremona, and Leden. They had their revenge for 
the bloody penal code. The stupid and pusillanimous 
George II. exclaimed, on hearing of the valor of the Irish 
exiles, " cursed be the laws that deprive me of such sub- 
jects." 

The Irish exiles filled, with honor, several ofiices of trust 
and honor, in Madrid, Paris, and Vienna. Irishmen, as the 
ambassadors of those countries, thwarted the policy of En- 
gland on the continent. Thus, the valor, honor, and ability 
of the Irish gained for their countrymen at home, who 
were harassed by penal laws, the sympathy of Europe. 
This should be the great aim of Irishmen, in every clime, 
to strive by their talents, virtue, abilitj'', patriotism, and 
valor, to gain the sympathy and esteem of the people of 
Europe and America. To demonstrate to the world that 
they are worthy of a better fate. To disabuse the minds of 



*HE IRISH EEPUBLIC. lOS 

ail thinking men, of the gross, unjust, and foul calumnies 
hurled against the Irish race by English writers. We should 
show them that the old cry raised by England, that the Iribh 
are not fit to govern themselves, is a lie. Let us emulate 
the noble deeds of those exiles who fought at Fontenoy. 
The Irish Brigade, commanded by Dillion, added to the 
military fame and glory of Ireland, on the continent. They 
defeated their hereditary enemies at the battle of Fontenoy, 
where they defeated the British hirelings and drove them 
from the field with a loss of fifteen thousand men. It was 
after this defeat that the imbecile George II. exclaimed, 
" cursed be such laws that rob me of such subjects ! " The 
cursed laws were the odious penal laws. The aristocracy 
of Great Britain, after the defeat of Fontenoy, passed an 
act disabling all Irish ofiicers and soldiers in the Spanish 
and French armies, who served since 1745, from inheriting 
real or personal property in Ireland. This intolerant and 
despotic measure only served the more to alienate the peo- 
l^le of Ireland from the crown of England. Irishmen can 
never, never, forget the odious penal laws, written in blood, 
until England does full justice to Ireland. That justice is 
to let Ireland govern herself! To withdraw her army and 
navy from the sacred soil and shores of old Erin. This is 
our ultimatum ! 

Let Irishmen never cease to agitate for Ireland's rights, 
until she is free, though we should w^ade through rivers of 
blood ! 

" For the arrows of vengeance are showering like rain, 
And choke the strong rivers with islands of slain, 
Till thy waves " lordly Shannon," all crimsonly flow, 
Like the billows of hell, ynih the blood of the foe ! " 



l04 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

Let US watch on the hill-tops, for the bright daWii of Ire- 
land's freedom. 

" Freedom's battle first begun, 
Handed down, from sire to son, 
Though often lost is ever won." 

The year 1731 marks a new epoch in Irish history. We 
find that the penal test act of Charles II. had excluded 
from civil and municipal offices, the Presbyterians and 
Dissenters, as well as the Catholics. This caused thousands 
of the Scotch-Irish of Ulster, and the Anglo-Irish and Mi- 
lesian-Irish of the other provinces, to risk the perils of the 
deep, and seek new homes in the, then, wilds of America! 
The Irish exodus henceforth helped to settle and clear the 
forests of Pennsylvania, the two Carolinas, Georgia, Mary- 
land, Virginia, and New England. Those exiles aided to 
teach George III., that the Irish exiles, banished by cruel 
laws and despotism, would turn on their rulers, and make 
the " tyrant feel the pain he gives." The same spirit tliat 
moved the Irish to demand their rights from despt)tic En- 
gland, under the lead of Grattan, actuated the Irish exiles . 
to humble British pride on this side of the Atlantic ocean. 
Oh ! will England ever gain wisdom from the past ? Will 
she never become wise ? Will she not, even now, take 
warning from the past ; for the Irish of to-day, thank God, 
can teach Queen Victoria the same lesson that the Irish 
taught George III. But this time Irish vengeance will 
prove more fatal to England. Her doom is fixed ; her days 
are numbered ; daylight is breaking ; the darkest hour is 
before daybreak : For the Irish in America will yet re 
member Limerick — oh ! the violated treaty of Limerick. 
Under the great Naj)oleon the Irish in France rose to 



I'ilE IRISH REPUBLIC. 105 

positions of eminence, trust, honor and emolument. Ar 
thur O'Connor was made a General. The younger Tone 
was promoted Colonel. The descendants of old Irish brig- 
ades filled offices of honor and distinction. Spain and 
Austria were represented at foreign courts by Irishmen. 
Napoleon speaks of meeting Count O'Rielly, every time he 
visited the* Austrian capital. It was the same O'Rielly 
wdio covered the retreat of the Austrians at Austerlitz. 
Irishmen rose in the, Austrian army to the rank of field- 
marshals. 

In 1796, Wolfe Tone ^^ent to France to o])tain aid for 
Ireland and to return to his native land with an army of 
deliverance. For this purpose the Irish exiles went to 
France to return to light for their native countrv in 1T98. 



CHAPTER IX. 

We will find the Irish exiles in America; though they 
came to find homes in the forests of America, yet, when 
tiie opportunity j)resented itself, both in the war of 177G 
and the war of 1812, made England remember the penal 
laws. The immortal and patriotic Jackson humbled tlie 
j)ride of Great Britain, at New Orleans. Commodore Mc- 
Donnough whii)ped the British lion on the great lakes. In 
the cause of South America the Irish patriots won for 
themselves and their country immortal fame. The Irish 
exiles all over the world showed, when an opportunity 
presented, that they did not forget their native land. Tliat 
thej'- did not forget to humble the pride of their hereditary 
14 



106 'ME lllISM KEPUBLIO. 

foe — England. It appears that providence gtiides tlie des- 
tinies of nations, and that what may seem, at first, to be a 
public calamity, often proves a great blessing. We behold 
the family of Jacob transferred to Egypt by a direful fam- 
ine. We find them multiplied in the same land to carry 
out the divine will — the propagation of the true faith. 
We find the Irish driven to America by a famine caused 
by English misrule — flying from their homes, from English 
despotism, to seek shelter in free America. We again find 
these emigrants, self expatriated, occupying a conspicuous 
part in the recent civil war, both in the Northern and 
Southern armies, where they have distinguished themselves 
as olficers and soldiers. The men who left their peaceful 
homes in Ireland, during the great exodus in immigrant 
ships, are now soldiers and statesmen, merchants, lawyers, 
and ..business men, prosperous farmers and mechanics, and 
well-to-do laborers. We have thousands of Irishmen, now 
in the United States, well versed in the arts of war and 
waiting for an opportunity to fight over the battles of the 
Boyne and Limerick and the old cause of 1798. They will 
not fight for treaties or compromises, or for a domestic par- 
liament. But they will fight for inde]3endence. They will 
fight for an Irish Kepublic! Ireland for the Irisli and 
let England have England. Ireland must be a separate 
and independent nation. Ireland with her great national 
resources was destined by the God of nature to be a great 
nation — ^a great republic— she can legislate for herself. 
The colonies, when they separated from despotic England 
and established free government, had but about three mil- 
lions of a population ; now what do we behold — -we find 
the republic extending from the St. Lawrence to the Rio 



THE IRISH EEPUBLIC. 107 

Grande, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Ireland be- 
fore the famine had a ]Dopulation of about nine millions ; 
she could subsist twelve millions, if all her resources were 
developed, under free institutions. Why cannot she be 
free ? She can if Irishmen do their duty. If Irishmen are 
true to themselves, if they bury forever the demon of dis- 
cord, fomented and cherished by the government of En- 
gland, since the time of the Norman invasion. 

The English government always dreaded the union of 
the native Irish and the English of the pale, many of whom 
had become " more Irish than the Irish themselves." To 
prevent the union of the two races, Edward III. wrote to 
his Irish Chief Justice the following letter : 
'" The King to his trusty and beloved John D'Arcy, Justi- 
ciary of Ireland, greeting: — 

'' Whereas, it appeareth to us and to our Council, for 
many reasons, that our services shall the better and more 
profitably be conducted in the said land, by English offi- 
cers, having revenues and possessions in England, than 
by Irish or Englishmen married and estated in Ireland, and 
without any possessions in our realm of England; we 
enjoin you that you diligently inform yourself of all our 
officers, greater or lesser, within our land of Ireland afore- 
said ; and that all such officers beneficed, married and es- 
tated in the said land, and having nothing in England, be 
removed from their offices ; that you place and substitute 
in their room other Jit Englishncn, having lands, tene- 
ments and benefices in England ; and that you cause the 
said offices for the future to be executed by such English- 
men, and none other, any order of ours to you made in 
contrary wise notwithstanding." 



108 THE HtlSH EEPUBLIC. 

The Irish of America, can free Ireland if they follow the 
noble and xjatriotic examples of the Irish who fought on 
the . continent of Europe, if they follow the example of 
the Irish who fought in the war of the American Revolu- 
tion, of 1776, and in the war of 1812. One omen of hope 
for the freedom of Ireland, is that, no matter how much 
soever Irishmen may disagree on minor topics, yet, when 
the time comes, that they can strike a blow for their native 
country, they will not be found wanting. This is my can- 
did conviction. Irishmen love their native fatherland — the 
more so for her misfortunes. But we must not compromise 
with England in the hour of our might — for England has 
broken faith so often that she cannot be trusted. Charles 
I., and his viceroy, Ormond, broke faith with the Irish. 
They violated their solemn promises. Charles II. violated 
his promises made to the Irish, and gave the homes of 
Irishmen to the murderers of his father and the enemies 
of his family. King William basely violated the sacred 
but never to be forgotten " Treaty of Limerick." His 
name is associated with spoliation, persecution, violated 
treaties and broken promises. William had not only vio- 
lated the treaty of Limerick, but his memory is loaded 
with the odium of the penal laws, and laws made to anni- 
hilate Irish manufactures. The impoverishment of the 
Irish, which forced thousands to quit their native soil to 
seek homes in every clime beneath the sun. " His relig- 
ion was hatred to Papists — his fair fame was stained by 
faithlessness and cruelty, and he will be forever named in 
history the treaty-breaker of Limerick, and the assassin of 
Glencoe." — Mitchel, page 22. 

Yet, we are told that we ought to forget the past. That 



THE lEISH EEPIfBLIC. 109 

Irislimen should be satisfied with the government of En- 
gland. That we shonld rejoice at her prosperity. That 
the prosperity of England is the prosperity of [Ireland. 
That the wealth of England is the wealth of Ireland. But 
we have found by sad experience, that England has the 
lion's share of all this wealth. 

As the reader has read and heard a great deal about the 
treaty of Limerick, we will here insert some of the civil 
articles : - - , 

Article I. guaranteed such privileges in the exercise of 
their religion as are consistent with the laws of Ireland, or 
as they enjoyed in the reign of King Charles II, It further 
provided, that " their magistrates, as soon as their affairs 
will permit them to summon a parliament in the kingdom, 
will endeavor to procure the said Roman Catholics such 
further security in that particular as may preserve them 
from any disturbance on account of their said religion." 

Article II. guaranteed ]3ardon and protection to all who 
had served King James, on taking the oath of allegiance, 
as follows : • 

" I, A. B., do solemnly promise and sw^ear that I will be 
faithful and bear true allegiance to their majesties. King 
William and Queen Mary, so help me God." 

Article VII. permits " every nobleman and gentleman 
compromised in the said articles," to carry side-arms, and 
to keep " a gun in their houses." 

Article VIII. gave the right to remove without search, 
goods and chattels. * 

Article IX. provides as follows : " The oath to be admin- 
istered to such Roman Catholics as submit to their Majes- 
ties' government shall be the oath aforesaid, and no other." 



110 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

Article X. guarantees that " no person or persons who 
shall at any time hereafter, break these articles or any of 
them, shall thereby make or cause any other person or per- 
sons to forfeit or lose the benefit of them. These articles, 
which gave to the Irish civil and religious liberty, were 
signed- at the "Treaty Stone," on the Clare side of the 
Shannon. 

On the following February, these articles were confirmed, 
at Westminster, by the King and Queen. They solemnly 
declared, that " we do for us, our heirs and successors, as 
far as in us lies, ratify and confirm the same and every 
clause, matter, and thing therein contained. And as to 
such parts therof, for which an act of parliament shall be 
found to be necessary, we shall recommend the same to be 
made good by parliament, and shall give our royal assent 
to any bill or bills that shall be passed by our two houses 
of parliament to that purpose. And whereas, it appears 
unto us, that it was agreed between the parties to said 
articles, that after the words Limerick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, 
Mayo, or any of them, in the second of the said articles, 
which words having been casually omitted by the writer of 
the articles, the words following, viz : ' And all such as are 
under their protection in the said counties,' should be in- 
serted, and be part of said omission, was not discovered 
till after said articles were signed, but was taken notice of 
before the second town was surrendered, and that our saicl 
justices and generals, or one of them, did promise that the 
said clause should be made good, it being within the in- 
tention of the capitulation, and inserted in the foul draft 
thereof. Our further will and pleasure is, and we do here- 
by ratify and confirm the said omitted words, viz : ' And 



'ME IRISH HEPUBLid 111 

all such as are under their protection in the said coiinties,' 
hereby, for us, our heirs and successors, ordering and de- 
claring that all and every person and persons therein con- 
cerned shall and may have, receive, and enjoy the benefit 
thereof, in such and the same manner as if the said words 
had been inserted in their proper place in the said second 
article, any omission, defect, or mistake in the said second 
article in any wise notwithstanding. Provided always, and 
our will and pleasure- is, that these letters patent shall be 
enrolled in our court of chancery, in our said kingdom of 
Ireland, within the space of one year next ensuing."" 

Notwithstanding the said treaty and the solemn pledge 
of William, the treaty of Limerick Avas violated in his life- 
time ! Let those who drink to the health of the immortal 
William, read the following : 

■• All attempts at foreign commerce in Ireland were at 
this time impeded ; also by the 'Navigation Laws,' which 
had long prohibited all direct trade between Ireland and 
the colonies ; no colonial produce, under those laws, could 
be carried to Ireland until it should have first entered an 
English port, and been unloaded tliere. The object of 
these laws, of course, was to secure to English merchants 
and ship-owners a monopoly of all such trade, and they 
had the desired efiect, so that a few years afterwards, the 
Dean of St. Patrick's could truly write : ' The conveniency 
of our ports and harbors, which nature has bestowed so 
liberally upon this kingdom, is of no more use to us than a 
beautiful prospect to a man shut up in a dungeon.' " — 
Mitchel, p. 19. 

His reign and that of Queen Anne are the reigns of the 
odious penal laws ! Such is,the faith of princes. Can Irish- 



112 illE iRlSli REPUBLIC. 

men put much faith in the j)romises of the English govern- 
ment. Can they trust British monarclis ! Instead of con- 
ferring the treaty of Limerick, the oligarchy, by test of 
oaths excluded the Catholics from the Irish parliament. So 
that from 1792 to. 1800, the Irish parliament was exclusive- 
ly Protestant. This same parliament committed suicide in 
1800 — when this same parliament, representing only a 
mere fraction of the Irish, sacrificed the nation by the cor- 
ruption,^^villainy and subtilty of the "undertaker,"' the in- 
famous Robert Stewart, better known as Lord Castlereagh. 
The following is from John Mitchel : 

"In 1692 the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Sydney, convened 
the first Irish parliament of William's reign. It was the 
first parliament in Ireland (except that convened by James) 
for twenty-six years. As there was then no Irisji act dis- 
qualifying Catholics from sitting in parliament, certain 
peers and a few commoners of that faith attended, and 
took their seats ; but the English parliament of the year 
before having provided against this, they were at once 
met by the oath of supremacy, declaring the King 
of England head of the church, and afiirming the sacrifice of 
the mass to be damnable. The oath was put to each mem- 
ber of both houses, and the few Catholics present at once 
retired, so that the parliament when it proceeded to busi- 
ness, was purely Protestant. Here then ended the last ves- 
tige of constitutional right for the Catholics; from this 
date and for generations to come, they could no longer con- 
sider themselves a part of the existing body politic of their 
native land; and the division into two nations became 
definite. There was the dominant nation, consisting of the 
British colony; and the subject nation, consisting of five- 



a:iiE Irish REPUSLid. 11 S 

sixths of tiie population, who had thereafter no more influ- 
ence upon public affairs than have the red Indians in the 
United States."— Mitchel, p. 7. 

The English government solemnly declared, in the hour 
of her weakness, that Ireland had a free and independent 
parliament, free and independent courts of law. In the 
hour of her weakness, when Ireland demanded her rights, 
by even armed force, of bold and patriotic volunteers, 
England repealed the act known in history as Poyning's 
law. She also repealed the act of 6th, George the First ; 
by which act England claimed the right to legislate for Ire- 
land, through the Irish parliament. But in the hour of 
her prosperity and security she shamefully violated her 
former pledges and robbed Ireland of her inalienable rights 
— of her parliament ; by the corruption of her minions she 
reduced Ireland from the high position of a nation to that 
of a province ! What Punic faith ? Can Ireland trust 
England? Never! Ireland must be free from the thrall- 
dom of Great Britain. Then, and only until then, can she 
be secure. Then, and only until then, can she defy her 
task-masters. Can Ireland trust England ? no, never, nev- 
er. Can she put faith in Britannia? Let the memory of 
Limerick's violated treaty answer. Irishmen v/ill never be 
satisfied until they see, — 

Ireland as she ought to be, — 

"Great, glorious, and free, 
First flower of the earth, and first gem of the sea." 



15 



114 I'lSK IRISH EEPUBLIC. 



THE DEATH OP SAESFIELD. 

Av — Logie o' Buchan. 
Sarsfield has sailed from Limerick town — 
He held it long for country and crown ; 
And ere he yielded, the Saxon swore 
To spoil our homes and our shrines no more. 

Sarsfield and most of his chivalry 

Are fighting for France in the Low Country — 

At his fiery charge the Saxons reel ; 

They learnt at Limerick to dread his steel. 

Sarsfield is dying on Landon's plain, 
His corslet hath met the ball in vain — 
As his life-blood gushes into his hand, 
He says, " Oh ! that this was for fatherland." 

Sarsfield is dead, yet no tears shed we — 
He died in the arms of victory. 
And his dying words shall edge the brand 
When we chase the foe from our native land. 

— Spirit of the Nation. 



O'NIAL'S VOW, 

How many a year, 

In fleet career, 
Have circled o'er its blackened strand 

Since first that vow, 
' Forgotten now. 
Was plighted to our native land ; 

And still the crimes 

Of those dark times 
Are perpetrated hour by hour. 

And Saxon fraud. 

By God unaw'd. 
Goes hand in hand with Saxon power. 

What lesson stern 

Thou'st left to learn, 
Oft bafiled, but unyielding king, 
" In peace or strife. 

In death or life, 
The Saxon bears a poisoned sting. 

Then weal or woe. 

Strike home the blow, 



THE IRISH RBPtTBLIC. 115 

And win at least the hero's fate, 

And far on high 

Your destiny 
Shall rank with stars of loftiest state." 

O'Nial swears 

The crown he wears, 
While throbs one pulse, or heaves one breath, 

To meet thy band 

With glove and brand, 
Invading brigand to the death. 

Nor length of years. 

Nor blood nor tears, - /; 

Defeat, disaster, nor distress, 

Shall mar the word 

Pledg'd on the sword 
He clutches for the merciless. 

— Spirit of the Nation. 



OHAPTEK X. 

THE UNION BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 

Castlereagh's treason — Bribery and corruption — Castle- 
reagh's promise to Catholics — He creates new offices — 
The bar against the Union — Honors conferred on those 
who supported the Union — Orangemen played off against 
Catholics — Lord Clare and Castlereagh the instruments 
of Pitt — Rotten boroughs — Military officers returned to 
Parliament — Increase of Irish debt—Ireland lost every- 
thing by the Union — The Union Jack — High taxes — 
Unequal rights. 

We have already incidentally touched on the villainy of 
the British minister, Pitt, and his instruments, in robbing 
Ireland of her hereditary and inalienable birthright — her 
independence, national standing and domestic parliament. 
But in this chapter we will enter more into detail. 

At th© session of the Irish Parliament of 1799, the in- 



116 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

famous Robert Stewart, Castlereagh, commenced maturing 
his plans for the overthrow of his country. He and his 
minions raised the cry of treason against all who spoke 
against the Union. They attempted to confound all who ad- 
vocated Irish independence with the French' revolutionists. 
Those who could not be silenced by intimidation were 
reached by the silent but potent force of bribery and cor- 
ruption, money and offices, titles and pensions and honors. 
White Hall had her offices open, from which flowed a se- 
cret stream of corruption funds. An army of pamphlet- 
eers, poetasters, lampooners and scribblers were in the pay 
of the Castle. 

" It was easy for British statesmen to find in Ireland the 
suitable material for their usual system of corruption, be- 
cause the Parliament did not at all represent the nation. 
Not only were four-fifths of the people expressly excluded, 
as Catholics, from all share in the representation, but of 
the three hundred members of the House of Commons, 
only seventy-two were returned by the people ; one hun- 
dred and twenty-two sat for nominations, boroughs, and 
represented only their patrons. Fifty-tw^o peers directly 
appointed these legislators, and could insure, by their 
influence, the election of about ten others. Fifty Com- 
moners also nominated ninety-one members, and controlled 
the election of four others. With such a condition of the 
popular representation, the British ministry knew that 
they could soon render it manageable ; and they waited 
till their own foreign troubles should be over, to re-estab- 
lish the supremacy where nature placed it." — Mitchel, p. 
154. 

Orangemen were played off against the liberals. Even 



THE IKIStt REPUBLIC. ' V H'*^ 

Lord Casllereagh '^ plied his pen in favor of the Consolida- 
tion of the empire." Pitt and Castlereagh promised the 
Catholics that they surely would pass a bill for the eman- 
cipation of Catholics, at the first session of the Imperial 
Parliament. : / • 

On the 22d of January, 1799, the vice-royal speech con- 
gratulated the Irish parliament and the oligarchy on Nel- 
son's victory : " The unremitting industry with which our 
enemies persevere in their avowed design of endeavoring 
to eifect a separation of this kingdom from Great Britain, 
must have engaged your attention, and his majesty com- 
mands me to express his anxious hope that this' considera- 
tion, joined to the sentiment of mutual affection and com- 
mon interest, may dispose the parliament in both kingdoms 
to provide the most effectual means of maintaining and 
improving a connection essential to their common security, 
and of consolidating, as far as possible, into one firm and 
lasting fabric, the strength, the power, and the resources 
of the empire." The paragraph for the consolidation of 
the empire was lost in the Commons, by owe vote, after it 
had passed the Lords. Mr, Ponsonby's pledge that the 
question of union should never again be proposed, was 
withdrawn, which gave new hope to the ministers. Mr. 
Plunket exclaimed in a masterly argument, " You may ex- 
tinguish, but parliament you cannot extinguish. It is en- 
throned in the hearts of the people — it is enshrined in the 
sanctuary of the constitution — it is as immortal as the 
island that protects it. As well might the frantic suicide 
imagine that the act which destroys his miserable body 
should also extinguish his eternal soul. Again, therefore, I 
warn you : Do not dare to lay your hands on the constitu- 



118 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

tiori — it is above your power." The castle party having 
been thus defeated, now commenced with a will deserving 
of a better cause, to increase the majority in parliament, 
in the coming session. To increase the patronage of the 
government, they created thirty-two new judgeships, col- 
lectorships, the Escheatship of Munster, thirteen new peer- 
ages, besides a lavish expenditure of money, was the instrur 
ments to carry the majority of the Unionists. Pitt intro- 
duced into the British parliament a number of resolutions 
as " the basis of a union." We have already said that even 
Lord Oastlereagh plied his pen for the Union — his " first 
essay was a motion to reform the Irish parliament, and his 
last to annihilate it." The first announcement of a union 
was through a pamphlet written by the under secretary, 
Cooke, entitled " arguments for and against a union consid- 
ered." Several able pamphlets were written on both sides 
of the question. The bar of Ireland was at this time pro- 
found, able, and influential — their power pervaded all 
classes of society — their weight was felt in the government. 
A meeting of the bar was called on all important occasions 
to give their sanction to all public measures. This vital 
question to the weal or woe of Ireland was a fit theme for 
all classes ; and in unison with the public feelings on such 
an important occasion, a meeting of the bar met December 
19th, 1799, to discuss the question of union. 

At this meeting, one Grady exclaimed : " The Irish Parli- 
ament is but the rump of an aristocracy." This was well 
enough for the partisans of England — the ascendency — 
the colony bred men who were always afraid to " bring 
down England on Ireland." At this meeting Mr. Goold 
saidj " there are 40,000 British troops in Ireland, and with 



TMil IHISH KEPUBLICi 119 

40,000 bayoiiets at my breast, the minister sliali not plant 
another Sicily in the bosom of the Atlantic." I want not 
the assistance of divine inspiration to foretell, for I am en- 
abled by the visible and unerring demonstration of nature, 
to assert that Ireland was destined to be a free and inde- 
pendent nation. Our patent to be a State, not a shire, 
comes direct from heaven. The Almighty has in majestic 
characters, signed the great charter of our independence. 
The great Creator of , the world has given our beloved 
country the gigantic outlines of a kingdom. The God of 
nature never intended that Ireland should be a province, 

and by G , she never shall !" Other lawyers followed 

in this noble and patriotic strain of eloquence and patriot- 
ism. On the division the vote stood : — 

Against the union, . . . . _ iq(; 

For the union, - - - - - - - 32 

Majority against the union, - - - - 134 

Thus the Irish bar, in 1799, composed of the intelligence 
and wisdom of the nation, were opposed to national suicide. 
This showed that the intelligence and wisdom of Ireland 
was against the accursed union, which was accomplished 
by British gold, corruption and infamy. Had the question 
been submitted to a vote of the people it would have been 
defeated by thousands. Indeed, we may justly say there 
was never a legal and binding union between the two 
countries. That the Irish people at any time have a just 
right to sever the connection between great Britain and 
Ireland, if able ! "■' That's what's the matter." The crafty 
ministry held the spurious argument that France wanted 
to separate Ireland from England. The ascendency party 



120 THE IRISli EfiPUBLIC, 

would ratliei* bask in the sunshine of their darling monop- 
oly, under the wing of English despotism and misrule, than 
to come on an equality with the multitude, on the great 
plain of civil and religious equality. They preferred tlieir 
own exclusive privileges under a despotism, than to come 
on a level with the multitude under a republican form of 
government, which was the main object of' the United 
Irishmen ! This narrow minded and selfish policy, as well 
as stars, ribbons and garters and petty lucre, prompted the 
advocates for the union! The love of despotic sway over 
the people, stimulated Castlereagli and Lord Clare to be- 
come the venal instruments of Pitt in destroying the liber- 
ty of the country. Where now is their ill-gotten pelf— 
where now the honor ! Oh! what dishonor ! Their names 
have become associated with everything vile — as the em- 
blem of all that is corrupt, wicked and treasonable to their 
country and liberty ! Oh ! what a vile fame is this ! Oh ! 
how infamous ! The names of those traitors will be hand- 
ed down to posterity in prose and in verse as the vilest of 
traitors known in the annals of nations ! The orator will 
brand them with infamy — the finger of scorn will be point- 
ed to them for all time to come. Yes, and the curse of 
posterity will follow them to their dishonorable graves. 
Their infamous career will mark a dark spot of foul dis- 
grace in the annals of their country forever. Oh ! what a; 
shame is this. Let all Irishmen remember the traitors, 
Lord Clare and Castlereagh ! 

On the 15th of January, 1800, the Irish Parliament met 
for the last time. The Castle party had created fifty new 
boroughs for the purpose of carrying the union. Many 
military officers were returned, such as Needham and Pack- 



^HEi iRtSH REPUBLIC. l2l 

^nkanl, lall the instruments of Lord Oastlei*eagh. The Pitt 
party, through Castlereagh, sketched the general plan of 
union. He expatiated on the advantages which Ireland 
would derive, such as the church establishment and com- 
merciatl advantages, and Catholic emancipation ; that the 
proprietors of the rotten boroughs would be paid well for 
their patronage. They held out the lure that the union 
would enrich Ireland by the flow of British capital into Ire- 
land to enrich the people ; but time has proven this to be 
as false as all other promises made by this perfidious gov- 
ernment. 

On the debate of this memorable question, a conflict of 
severe invective and satire took place between Lord Cas- 
tlereagh and Ponsonby. Castlereagh's speech was de- 
nounced by Mr. Ponsonby as " the ravings of an irritated 
youth." 

O'Donneil of Mayo " disclaimed all further allegiance if 
a union were effected ; he held it as a vicious revolution, 
and avowed he would take the field at the head of his reg- 
iment, to oppose it." — Barrington, p. 404. After a strong 
debate, the question stood : For the union, 105 ; and against 
it, 111. This was a victory for the friends of independence 
and a galling defeat for Castlereagh. The members who 
voted for the union were influenced, as may be seen from 
the following, thus : — 

Those holding office, 69 

Those rewarded for their votes, - - - 14 

Seduced in the house openly, - - - - 1 

Rewarded by titles, ------ 18 

Supposed to be influenced, - - - - 102 
16 



122 l^HE IRISH SEPUBLldi 

The House composed of - - . ^ . 300 
Voted that night, - 216 

Absent, - , - - - - - - - 84 

After this signal defeat, Mr. Ponsonby moved, " That this 
house will ever maintain the undoubted birthright of Irish- 
men, by preserving an independent parliament of lords 
and commons resident in this kingdom, as stated and ap- 
proved by his Majesty and the British parliament, in 1782." 
This motion would have been carried but for one Charles 
Fortescue, who declared he would not bind himself forever. 
Mr. Ponsonby then withdrew his motion. This gave fresh 
courage to the castle party, to make a greater effort in 1800. 

Pitt sent a dispatch to Cornwallis that the question of 
union should not be pressed unless the government had a 
majority of fifty. The corrupt and pusillanimous Lord 
Castlereagh now prepared for an exertion which would 
overpower the opposition, both with money and audacity. 
He had not been endowed with courage, but he was armed 
with subtle cunning. He invited to dinner "tried men "of 
" fighting families." This v/as done to enlist men to " fight 
down the opposition." They promised Castlereagh to " eat, 
drink, speak, and fight for him." 

This infamous and corrupt politician was held in such 
hatred by the people of Dublin, that they burned him in 
eMgj, in 1800. The wily traitor was able, during the pro- 
rogation of parliament, to secure forty-three members. 

Sir Jonah Barrington thus describes the debate at the 
session of 1800; thus: 

" Every mind was at its stretch, every talent was in its 
vigor : it was a momentous trial ; and never was so general 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC, 123 

and so dee;^ a sensation felt in any country. Numerous 
British noblemen and commons were present at that and! 
the succeeding debates, and they expressed opinions of 
Irish eloquence which they had never before conceived, 
nor ever after had an opportunity of appreciating. Every 
man, on that night, seemed to be inspired by the subject. 
Speeches more replete with talent and energy, on both 
sides, never were heard in the Irish senate; it was a vital 
subject. The sublime, the eloquent, the figurative orator, 
the plain, the connected, the metaphysical reasoner, the 
classical, the learned, and the solemn declaimer, in a suc- 
cession of speeches so full of energy and enthusiasm, so 
interesting in their nature, so important in their conse- 
quences, created a variety of sensations even in the bosom 
of a stranger, and could scarcely fail of exciting some 
Sympathy with a nation that was doomed to close for ever 
that school of eloquence which had so long given charac- 
ter and celebrity to Irish talent." 

On the 25th of March, the castle party took a vote 
which showed that they had gained, by bribery, a majority 
of forty-seven. The House then adjourned for six weeks. 
On June 7th the bill was put on its final passage. Jonah 
Barrington describes the final scene thus : 

"The galleries were full, but the change was lamentable ; 
they were no longer crowded with those who had been ac- 
customed to witness the eloquence and to animate the de- 
bates of that assembly. A monotonous and melancholy 
murmur ran through the benches, scarcely a word was ex- 
changed amongst the members, nobody seemed at ease, no 
cheerfulness was apparent, and the ordinary business, for a 
short time, proceeded in the usual manner. 



124 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

" At length the expected moment arrived, the order of 
the day for the third reading of the bill, for a legislative 
union between Great Britain and Ireland, was moved 
by Lord Castlereagh. Unvaried, tame, cold-blooded, the 
words seemed frozen as they issued from his lips ; and, as 
if a simple citizen of the world, he seemed to have no sen- 
sation on the subject. 

" At that moment he had no country, no God but his 
ambition. He made his motion and resumed his seat, with 
the utmost composure and indifference. 

" Confused murmurs again ran through the House. It 
was visibly affected ; every character in a moment seemed 
involuntarily rushing to its index ; some pale, some flushed, 
some agitated ; there were few countenances to which the 
heart did not dispatch some messenger. Several members 
withdrew before the q^uestion could be repeated, and an 
awful, momentary silence succeeded their departure. The 
speaker rose slowly from that ^hair which had been the 
proud source of his honors and of his high character; for 
a moment he resumed his seat, but the strength of his 
mind sustained him in his duty, though his struggle was 
apparent. With that dignity which, never failed to signal- 
ize his official actions, he held up the bill for a moment in 
silence ; he looked steadily around him on the last agony 
of the expiring parliament. He at length repeated, in an 
emphatic tone, ' As many as are of the opinion that This 
Bill do pass, say aye.' The affirmative was languid, but 
indisputable ; another momentary pause ensued, again his 
lips seemed to decline their office. At length, with an eye 
averted from the object which he hated, he proclaimed, 
with a subdued voice, 'The ayes have it.' The fatal sen- 



THE IBISH REPUBLIC. 125 

tence was now pronounced ; for an instant he stood statue- 
like; then indignantly, and with disgust, flung the bill 
upon the table, and sunk into his chair with an exhausted 
spirit. An independent country was thus degraded into a 
province ; Ireland, as a nation, was extinguished." — Bar- 
rington, 459, 460. 

" Notwithstanding that Castlereagh had spent millions to 
buy votes, besides a lavish distribution of titles — peerages, 
judgeships, collectorships and pensions — he could get but 
158 out of 300 members, in 1800. For the eternal honor 
of the anti-unionists, be it said, that there were 115 mem- 
bers that all the corruption of the " British Government 
could not seduce." — Barrington, p. 352. 

On August of the anniversary of the House of Bruns- 
wick, the imbecile George III. gave his royal assent to the 
act which declared that henceforth the Kingdom of Great 
Britain and Ireland was one and inseparable ! The church- 
es of England and Ireland were united. , The Irish debt, 
which was but £4,000,000 in 1797, in 1801 was £17,000,000. 
The Vice Royalty, the Four Courts and the Privy Council 
were all that was left of the Irish nation ! On January 1, 
1801, a new flag was raised over the^tower of London and 
Edinburg Castle, and the green flag was lowered from 
Dublin Castle to give place to that flaunting lie, the union 
jack! And by proclamation the royal title became hence- 
forth, Dei Gratia^ Britanniarum Rex^ Fidei Defensor. 

Only about six or seven voted for this accursed union 
from conviction. Some of the proprietors of the rotten 
boroughs received £15,000 for a single seat ; and Lord Ely 
and Lord Shannon received £45,000 for the loss of their 
great patronage 1 As we have already said, the great bulk 



126 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

of the Irish people, who had no representation in this 
body, looked on this vile barter of their rights by a "rump 
of an aristocracy," as a gigantic fraud. They were never 
satisfied — never can they be satisfied until they have a 
free Republic. The union proved a stupendous curse to 
Ireland — the curse of taxation and extermination. Even 
Ireland was taxed for the knife with which Castlereagh cut 
his throat. Samuel Johnson said to an Irishman, " Do not 
unite with us, sir, it would be the union of a shark with his 
prey ; we would unite with you only to destroy you. 

England promised that she would henceforth become the 
guardian of Ireland. Ah, her protector ! Yes, the same 
protection which the wolf shows to the lamb ! All and 
every promise which she^made on this occasion, she most 
shamefully violated. How can Ireland put trust in En- 
gland, or in the English parliament. Never, never. We 
want our freedom. We want a free government, a free 
people, and a free country. Then and only until then can 
Ireland be satisfied. Let us. Irishmen, never despair of the 
freedom of our fatherland. No, never can Ireland be 
united to England. When we get an opportunity we will 
sever this fatal union for ever, and hoist the green flag of 
Erin over the castle of Dublin ! The days of sending pe- 
titions to the parliament of England are gone — that " par- 
liament which knows how to refuse though it has no reason 
to give for that refusal." 

The following vivid picture of Ireland, caused by the loss 
of the union,'is from a speech of the immortal O'Connell : 

"He," (O'Connell) "was unable to do justice to his feel- 
ings on the great national subject on which they had met. 
He felt too much of personal anxiety to allow him to ar- 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. l2f 

range in anything like order the many topics which rushed 
upon his mind, now, that after ten years of silence and 
torpor. Irishmen began again to recollect their enslaved 
country. It was a melancholy period, those ten years— a 
period in which Ireland saw her artificers starved, her 
tradesmen begging, her merchants become bankrupts, her 
gentry banished, and her nobility degraded. Within that 
period domestic turbulance broke from day to day into 
open violence and murder, religious dissensions were ag- 
gravated and embittered, credit and commerce were anni- 
hilated, taxation augmented in amount and in vexation. 
Besides the ' liangings-ofF ' of the ordinary assizes, we had 
been disgraced by the necessity that existed for holding 
two special commissions of death, and had been degraded 
by our rebellion ; and, to crown all, we were insulted by 
being told of our growing prosperity ! This was not the 
painting of imagination — it borrowed nothing from fancy 
— it was, alas, the plain representation of the facts that 
had occurred— the picture, in sober colors, of the real state 
of his ill-fated country. There is not a man present but 
must be convinced that he did not exaggerate a single fact ; 
there was not a man present but must know that more mis- 
ery existed than he had described. Such being the history 
of the first ten years of the union, it would not be difiicult 
to convince any unprejudiced mail) that all those calamities 
had sprung from that measure. Ireland was favored by 
Proyidence with a fertile soil, and excellent situation for 
commerce, intersected by navigable rivers, blessed with a 
fruitful soil, and with a vigorous, hardy, generous, and 
brave population ; how did it happen, then, tliat the noble 
qualities of the Irish people were perverted 'i That the 



128 THE IRtSil R:^PtJBLldi 

order of Providence was disturbed, and its blessings worse! 
than neglected. The fatal cause was obvious — it was the 
union. That these deplorable effects would follow from 
that accursed measure, was prophesied. Before the Act of 
Union passed, it had been already proved that the trade of 
the country and its credit must fail, as capital was drawn 
from it ; that turbulance and violence would increase, when 
the gentry were removed to residence in another country ; 
that the taxes should increase in the same proportion as 
the people became unable to pay them. But neither the 
argument nor our prophetic fears have ended with our 
present evils. It has also been demonstrated, that as long 
as the union continues, so long must our misfortunes accu- 
mulate. The nature of that measure, and the experience 
of facts which we have now had, leave no doubt of the 
truth of what has been asserted respecting the future. But 
if there be any still incredulous, he can only be of those 
who submit their reason to authority. To such persons, the 
authority of Mr. John Foster, Chancellor of the Exchequer 
for Ireland, would probably be conclusive, and Foster has 
assured us, that final ruin to our country must be the con- 
seq[uence of the union. -I will not dwell, Mr. Sheriff, on 
the miseries of my country; I am disgusted with the 
wretchedness the union has produced ; and I do not dare to 
trust myself with the contemplation of the ! accumulation 
of sorrow that must overwhelm the land, if the union be 
not repealed 1 I beg to call the attention of the meeting 
to another part of the subject. The union, sir, was a vio- 
lation of our national and inherent rights-— a flagrant in- 
justice. 

" The representatives whom we bad elected for a short 



r.;E IRISH REPUBLIC. 129 

perio 1 of eiglit years, had no authority to dispose of their 
country forever. It cannot be joretended that any direct 
or express authority to that effect was given to them ; and 
the nature of the delegation excludes all idea of their 
liaving any such by implication! They were the servants 
of the nation, empowered to consult for its good ; not its 
masters, to make traffic and dispose of it at their fantasy, 
or for their profit. I deny that the nation itself had a right 
to barter its independence or to commit political suicide ; 
but when our servants destroyed our existence as a nation, 
tliej'- added to the baseness of assassination all the guilt of 
high treason. The reasoning upon which those opinions 
are founded, is sufficiently obvious. They require no sanc- 
tion from the authority of any name ; neither do I pretend 
to give them any weight, by declaring them to be consci- 
entiously my own; but if you want authority to induce 
the conviction that the union had injustice for its princi- 
ples, and a crime for its basis, I appeal to that of his Ma- 
jesty's present Attorney General, Mr. Saurin, who in his 
place in the Irish Parliament, pledged his character as a 
lawyer and a statesman, that tlie union must be a violation 
of any moral principle, and that it was a mere question of 
prudence whether it should not be resisted by force. I al- 
so appeal to the opinions of the late Lord High Chancellor 
of Ireland, Mr. George Ponsonby — of the present Solicitor 
General, Mr. Bnslie — and of that splendid lawyer, Mr. 
Plunket. The union was therefore a manifest injustice — 
and it continues to be unjust at this day. It was a crime 
and must be still criminal, unless it shall be ludicrously 
pretended that crime, like wine, improves by old age, and 
that time mollifies injustice into innocence. You may 
17 



130 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

smile at the supposition, but in sober sadness you must be 
convinced that we daily suffer injustice — that every suc- 
ceeding day adds one other to the catalogue of British vice, 
and if the union continues, it will only make crime hered- 
itary, and injustice perpetual. 

" We have been robbed, my countrymen, most foully 
robbed of our birthright, of our independence. May it not 
be permitted to us, mournfully to ask how this consumma- 
tion of evil was perfected? for it was not in any disastrous 
battle that our liberties were struck down — no foreign in- 
vader had despoiled the land ; we have not forfeited our 
country by any crimes — neither did we lose it in any do 
mestic insurrection. No, the rebellion was completely put 
down before the union was accomplished : the Irish militia 
and the Irish yeomanry had put it down. How, then, have 
we become enslaved ? Alas ! England, that ought to have 
been to us as a sister and a friend — England, whom we had 
loved, and fought, and bled for — England, whom we had 
protected, and whom we do protect — England, at a period 
when out of 100,000 seamen in her service 70,000 were 
Irish — England stole upon us, like a thief in the night, and 
robbed us of the precious gem of our liberty ; she stole 
from us ' that which in nought enriched her, but made us 
poor indeed.' Reflect, then, my friends, on the means em- 
ployed to accomplish this disastrous measure. I do not 
speak of the meaner instruments of bribery and corruption 
— we all know that every thing was j)ut to sale — nothing 
profane or sacred was omitted in the union mart— officers 
in the revenue, commands in the army and navy, the sacred 
ermine of justice, and the holy altars of God, were all pro- 
faned and polluted by the rewards of union services. By 



THE lEISH EEPUBLIC. 131 

a vote in favor of the union, ignorance, incapacity, and 
profligacy obtained certain promotion ; and our ill-fated 
but beloved country was degraded to her utmost limits, 
before she was transfixed in slavery. But I do not intend 
to detain you in contemplation of those vulgar means of 
parliamentary success — they are within the daily routine 
of official management / neither will I direct your attention 
to the frightful recollection of that avowed fact which is 
now part of history, that the rehellion itself was fomented 
and encouraged in order to facilitate the Union. Even the 
rebellion was an accidental and secondary cause — the real 
cause of the union lay deeper, but is quite obvious. 

" It is to be found at once in the religious dissensions 
which the enemies of Ireland have created, and continued, 
and seek to perpetrate amongst ourselves, by telling us of, 
and separating us into wretched sections and miserable 
subdivisions ; they separated the Protestant from the Cath- 
olic, and the Presbyterian from both ; they revived every 
antiquated cause of domestic animosity, and they invented 
new pretexts of rancor ; but above all, my countrymen, 
they belied and calumniated us to each other — they falsely 
declared that we hated each other, and continued to repeat 
the assertion, until we came to believe it ; they succeeded 
in producing all the madness of party and religious distinc- 
tions, and while we were lost in the stupor of insanity, they 
plundered us of our country, and left us to recover at our 
leisure from the horrid delusions into which we had been 
so artfully conducted. 

" Such, then, were the means by which the union was 
efi"ected. It has stripped us of commerce and wealth ; it 
has degraded us, and deprived us not only of our station as 



132 ■ TIJE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

a nation, but even of the name of our country ; we are 
governed by foreigners — foreigners make our laws, for were 
the one hundred members who nominally represent Ireland 
in what is called the imperial parliament, were the.y really 
our representatives, what influence could they, although 
unbought and unanimous, have over the five hundred and 
fifty-eight English and Scotch members ? But v/hat is the 
fact? Why, that out of the one hundred, such as they are, 
that set for this country, more than one-fifth know nothing 
of us, and are unknown to us." — -COonnell's Speeches, vol. 
1, pp. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. 

We will give O'ConnelFs description of the Pitt adminis- 
tration, and of the mearfs he employed to carry the union 
by means of his tools and minions, and the traitors, Oastle- 
reagh, and Lord Clare — by perjury and. corruption unpar- 
alelled in ancient or modern history : — 

" Thus, the principle of the Pitt administration was— 
to deprive the people of all shave in the government^ and to 
vest all power and authority in the crown. In short, Pitt's 
views amounted to unciualified desj)otism. This great ob- 
ject he steadily pursued through his ill-starred career. It 
is true he encouraged commerce, but it was for the pur- 
poses of taxation, and he used taxation for the purposes of 
corruption ; he assisted the merchants as long as he. could, to 
grow rich and they laiided him : he bought the people with 
their own money, and they praised him. Each succeeding 
day produced some new inroad on the Constitution ; and the 
alarm which he excited by reason of the bloody workings 
of the French revolution, enabled him to rule (he land with 
uncontrolled sway. He had bequeathed to his successors 
tlie accumiilatecl powers of the Crown— a power wliic|> inust 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 1-33 

be great, if it can sustain the nonentities of the present ad- 
ministration. "The principle of Pitt's administration Avas 
despotism — the principle of Perceval's administration was 
peculating bigotry — bigoted peculation ! In the name of 
the- Lord he i)l^^ndered the people. Pious and enlight- 
ened statesman ! He would take their money only for the 
good of their souls. 

"The Minister, Lord Castlereagh, is reported to have said 
in the House of Commons, that in the years 1797 and 179S, 
there was no torture in Ireland, to the knowledge of Gov- 
ernment ! Is it really possible that such an assertion was 
used ? You hear it with astonishment. All Ireland must 
shudder, that any man could be found thus to assert. Good 
God ! Of what materials must that man be made who could 
say so ? I restrain my indignation ; I withhold all expressions 
of surprise. The simple statement that such an assertion 
was used, exceeds, in reply, the strongest language of rep- 
robation. But there is no man so stupid as not to recognize 
the principle which I have so justly attributed to this ad- 
ministration. 

" What ! no torture ! Great God ! No torture ! Within 
the walls of your city was there, no torture ? Could not 
Colonel Vereker have informed Lord Castlereagh, that the 
lash resounded in the streets even of Limerick, and that 
the human groan assailed the wearied ear of humanity ? 
Yet I am ready to give the gallant Colonel any credit he 
deserves ; and, therefore, I recall to your grateful recollec- 
tion the day when he risked his life to punish one of the 
instruments of torture. Colonel Vereker can tell w^hether 
it be true, that in the streets of your city, the servant of 
his relative, Mrs. Rosslewen, ivas not tortiired-— whether he 



134 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

was not tortured, first for the crime of having expressed a 
single sentiment of compassion, and next because Colonel 
Vereker iaterfered for him. But there is an additional 
fact, which is not so generally known, and which, perhaps. 
Colonel Vereker himself does not know, and which I have 
learned from a highly respectable clergyman, that this said 
victim of the system of torture, which Lord Castlereagh 
denied, was, at the time he was scourged, in an infirm 
state of health — that the flogging inflicted on him deprived 
him of all understanding, and that within a few months he 
died insane, and without having recovered a shadow of 
reason. 

" But why, out of the myriads of victims, do I select a 
solitary instance ? Because he was a native of your city, 
and his only ofi'ense an expression of compassion. I might 
tell you, did you not already know it, that in Dublin there 
were, for weeks, three permanent triangles, constantly sup- 
plied with the victims of a promiscuous choice made by 
the army, the yeomanry, the police constables, the Orange 
lodges ; that the shrieks of the tortured must have literally 
resounded in the state apartments of the castle ; and that 
along by the gate of the castle yard, a human being, naked, 
tarred, feathered, with one ear cut ofi", and the blood stream- 
ing from his lacerated back, has been hunted by a troop 
of barbarians!" — O'Connell's Speeches, vol. 1, pp. 94, 
95,96. 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 135 



CHAPTER XI. 



At the time of the union Ireland owed but £20,000,000 
funded debt, and England £840,000,000. Ireland would 
have paid off her public debt but for the accursed union — 
now her houses, lands, property, and industry must pay the 
debts of the old tyrant, England! 

Ireland was entitled by the act of the union, to ITG 
members out of the 658 members in the British Parliament, 
but she got but one hundred. Scotland increased her rep- 
resentation by one in five, Wales by one in six, and Ireland 
by One in ten ! This accursed union was carried not only 
by direct bribery and villainy, but Scotchmen and English- 
men were returned from the rotten boroughs by the cor- 
ruption of Castlereagh, who would barter a seat in heaven 
for emolument, who voted for the union. This fatal union 
encouraged the odious system of absentees ; nine-tenths of 
the soil of Ireland is owned by absentees. Pitt and Castle- 
reagh played off Catholic against Protestant, and fomented 
domestic dissension. They sold peerages as a staple of 
traffic — commands in the army and navy, judgeships, arch-^ 
bishops, and bishops, revenue coUectorships and officers of 
all grades, pensions and titles. They trafficked the sanctu- 
ary of law and bribed the ministers of religion to obtain 
Votes in parliament to accomplish the union. Pitt had giv- 
en a written promise to the Catholics that if they would 
unite Ireland with ilngiand — consolidate the inhabitants of 
both islands as one people and one nation, they would no 
longer be treated as aliens, enemies and strangers, but that 
[hey would enjoy the samo privileges, laws and liberties 



136 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

with England and Scotland — the Catholics would no longer 
be persecuted for their religion. Did England keep her 
plighted faith ? Oh, no. That consummate fool, George III., 
refused Pitt, the prime minister, his sanction to grant Cath- 
olic emancipation. Three times the British House of Com- 
mons voted for Catholic emancipation, which was each 
time defeated by Ireland's perpetual enemies in the British 
House of Lords, At last a change came over the spirit of 
the Irish. They spurned with holy indignation the patron- 
age of the British government — placemen and Castle-hacks 
were hurled from power to make room for the sons of free- 
dom and liberty ; and after years of agitation they wrung 
from King George, Wellington, and Peel, Catholic emanci- 
pation. Ireland gained nothing but lost everything by the 
accursed union. 

ORIGINAL BLACK LIST, 
Containing the names of the men bribed by Pitt to pack 
the Irish Parliament to accomplish the Union. Let their 
names be handed down to posterity, as vile traitors to their 
country and their God : 

OBSERVATIONS. 

1. R. Aldridge: an English clerk in the Secretary's Office; 
no connection with Ireland. 

2. Henry Alexander: chairman of ways and means; cou- 
sin of Lord Caledon ; his brother made a Bishop ; himself 
Colonial Secretary at the Cape of Good Hope. 

3. Richard Archdall: commissioner of the Board of Works, 

4. William Bailey : commissioner of the Board of Works, 

5. Rt. Hon. J. Beresford ; First Commissioner of Revenue ; 
brother-in-law to Lord Clare. 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 137 

6. J. Beresford Jr. : then Purse-bearer to Lord Clare, after- 
wards a parson, and now Lord Decies. 

7. Marcus Beresford : a Colonel in the army ; son to the 
Bishop, Lord Clare's nej)liew. 

8. J. Bingham : created a peer ; got £8000 for two seats, 
and £15,000 compensation for Tuam, This gentleman 
first offered himself for sale to the Anti-Unionists ; Lord 
Clanmorris. 

9. Joseph H. Blake : created a peer, Lord Wallscourt, &c. 

10. Sir. J. G. Blackwood : created a Peer — Lord Dufferin. 

11. Sir John Blaquiere : numerous offices and pensions, and 
created a Peer — Lord De Blaquiere. 

12. Anthony Botet: appointed Commissioner of the Bar- 
rack Board, £508 a year. 

13. Colonel Burton : brother to Lord Conyngham ; a Col- 
onel in the army. 

14. Sir Richard Butler : purchased and changed sides : vot- 
ed against the Union in 1799, and for it in 1800. Cash. 

15. Lord Boyle : son to Lord Shannon ; they got an hn- 
mense sum of money for their seats and boroughs ; at 
£15,000 each borough. 

16. Rt. Hon. D. Brown : brother to Lord Sligo. 

17. Stewart Bruce : gentleman usher at Dublin Castle ; now 
a baronet. 

18. George Burdet : Commissioner of a public board, £500 
per annum. 

19. George Bunbury: ditto, 

20. Arthur Brown : changed sides and principles, and was 
appointed sergeant ; in 1799 opposed the union, and sup- 
ported it in 1800 ; he was senior Fellow of Dublin Uni- 
versity ; lost his seat the ensuing election, and died. 

18 



138 THE IRISH KEPUBLIC. 

21. Bagwell, Sen.: changed twice; got half the pat- 
ronage of Tipperary ; his son a Dean, &c. &c. 

22. William Bagwell : his brother. 

23. Lord Oastlereagh : the Irish Minister. 

24. George Cavendish: Secretary to the Treasury during 
pleasure ; son to Sir Henry. 

25. Sir H. Cavendish : Receiver General during pleasure ; 
deeply indebted to the crown. 

26. Sir R. Chinnery : placed in office after the union. 

27. James Cane : renegaded, and got a pension. 

28. Thomas Casey : a Commissioner of Bankrupts under 
Lord Clare ; made a City Magistrate. 

29. Colonel C. Cope : renegaded ; got a regiment, and the 
patronage of his county. 

30. General Cradock : -returned by government ; much mil- 
itary rank ; now Lord Howden. 

31. James Crosby: a regiment and the patronage of Kerry 
jointly; seconded the address. 

32. Edward Cooke : Under Secretary at the Castle. 

33. Charles H. Coote : obtained a regiment (which was 
taken from Colonel Wharburton), patronage of Queen's 
County, and a peerage (Lord Castlecoote), and £7,500 in 
cash for his interest at the Borough of Maryborough, in 
which, in fact, it was proved before the commissioners 
that the author of this work, Mr. Barrington, had more 
interest than his Lordship. 

34. Rt. Hon. J. Corry: appointed Chancellor of the Ex- 
chequer, on dismissal of Sir John Parnell. 

35. Sir J. Cotter : privately bought over by cash. 

36. Richard Cotter. 

37. Hon. H. Creighton: renegade, (see red list.) 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 139 

38. Hon. J. Creighton: privately purchased. 

39. W. A. Crosbie : Comptroller to the Lord Lieutenant's 
Household. 

40. James Cuffe : natural son to Mr. Cuffe, of the Board of 
Works, his father created Lord Tyrawly. 

41 . General Dunne : returned from Maryborough by the 
united influence of Lord Castlecoote and government, to 
keep out Mr. Barington: gained the election by only 
one. ' 

42. William Elliot: Secretary at the Castle. 

43. General Eustace : a regiment. • 

44 Lord C. Fitzgerald : Duke of Leinster's brother, a pension 
and a peerage ; a sea officer of no repute. 

45. Rt. Hon. W. Fitzgerald. 

46. Sir C. Fortescue : renegaded, (see red list); officer, 
King at Arms. • .; 

47. A Fergusson: got a place at the Barrack Board; £500 
a year and a Baronetcy. 

48. Luke Fox : appointed Judge of Common Pleas ; nephew 
by marriage to Lord Ely. 

49. William Fortescue : got a secret pension out of a fund 
(£3,000 a year) entrusted by Parliament to the Irish gov- 
ernment, solely to reward Mr. Reynolds, Cope, &c., &c., 
and those who informed against rebels. 

50. J. Galbraith : Lord Abercorn's Attorney ; got a Baron- 
etage. 

51. Henry D. Grady: 'First Counsel to the Commissioners. 

52. Richard Hare : put two members into Parliament, and 
was created Lord Ennismere for their votes. 

53. William Hare : his son. 

54. Peter Holmes: a Commissioner of Stamps. 



140 THE IBISH REPUBLIC. 

55. Col. B. Henneker: a. regiment, and paid £3,500 for 
his seat by the commissioners of compensation. 

56. George Hatton: appointed Commissioner of Stamps. 

57. Hon. J. Hutchison : a General— Lord Hutchison. 

58. Hugh Howard: Lord Wicklow's brother, made Post- 
master General. 

59. Wm. Handcock, Athlone : an extraordinary instance ; he 
made and sang songs against the union in 1799, at a 
public dinner of the opposition, and made and sang songs 
for it in 1800 — he got a Peerage. 

60. John Hobson: appointed store-keeper at the Castle 
ordnance. 

61. Col. G. Jackson: a regiment. 

62. Denham Jephson : Master of Horse to the Lord Lieu- 
tenant. 

63. Hon.G. Jocelyn : promotion in the army, and his broth- 
er consecrated Bishop of Lismore. 

64. William Jones. 

65. Theophilus Jones : Collector of Dublin. 
QQ. Major Gen. Jackson: a regiment. 

67. William Johnson : returned to Parliament by Lord Cas- 
tlereagh, as he himself declared, "to put an end to it;" 
appointed a judge since. 

68. Robert Johnson : seceded from his partner. Lord Down- 
shire, and was appointed a judge. 

69. John Keane : a renegade ; got a pension ; see red list. 

70. James Kearny ; returned by Lord Clifton, being his at- 
torney ; got an office. 

71. Henry Kemmis : son to the crown solicitor. 

72. William Knot: appointed a commissioner of appeals 
£800 a year. 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. l4l 

73. Andrew Knox. 

74. Colonel Keating. 

75. Rt. Hon. Sir H. Langrishe : a Commissioner of Stamps, 
paid £15,000 for his patronage at Knocktopher. «? 

76. T. Lingray, Sen. : Commissioner of Stamps, paid £1,500 
for his patronage. 

77. T. Lindsay, Jr. : usher at the Castle, paid £1,500 for his 
patronage. 

78. J. Long-field : created a peer ; Lord Longueville. 

79. Capt. J. Long-field : appointed to the office of ship en- 
tries of Dublin, taken from Sir Jonah Barrington. 

80. Lord Loftus : son to Lord Ely, Post Master General ; got 
£30,000 for their boroughs, and created an English Mar- 
quis. 

81. General Lake : an Englishman, (no connection with Ire- 
land,) returned by Lord Castlereagh, solely to vote for 
the union. 

82. Rt. Hon. David Latouche. 

83. General Loftus : a General ; got a regiment ; cousin to 
Lord Ely. 1 

84. Francis M. Namara: cash, and a private pension, paid 
by Lord Castlereagh. 

85. Ross Mahon : several appointments and places by gov- 
ernment. 

, 86. Richard Martin : Commissioner of Stamps. 

87. Right Hon. Monk Mason : a Commissioner of Revenue. 

88. H. D. Massy: received £4,000 cash. 

89. Thomas Mahon. 

90. A. E. M'Naghten : appointed a Lord of the Treasury, &c. 

91. Stephen Moore ; a postmaster at will. 

92. N. M. Moore. 



142 THE IRISH EEPUBLIC. 

93. Ri^ht Hon. Lodge Morris : created a peer. 

94. Sir E. Mnsgrave : appointed Keceiver of the Customs, 
£1,200 a year. 

9.5. Jaiftes M'Cleland : a barrister; appointed vSolicitor Gen- 
eral, and then a Baron of the Exchequer. 

96. Col. C. M'Donnel: commissioner of imprest accounts, 
£500 per annum. 

97. Richard Magenness : commissioner of imprest accounts, 
£500 per annum. 

98. Thomas Nesbit: a pensioner at will. 

99. Sir W. G. Newcomen, baronet : bought (see memoir 
ant^} and a peerage for his wife. 

100. Richard Neville : renegaded; reinstated as teller of 
the Exchequer. 

101. William Odell: a regiment and Lord of the Treasury. 

102. Charles Osborne, a barrister: appointed Judge of t?ie 
King's Bench. 

103. C. M. Ormsby: appointed first council commissioner. 

104. Admiral Pakenham: master of the ordnance. 

105. Col. Pakenham : a regiment; killed at New Orleans. 

106. H. S. Prittie: a peerage — Lord Dunalley. 

107. R. Pennefather. 

108. T. Prendergast: an officer in the court of chancery, 
£500 a year; his brother crown solicitor. 

109. Sir Richard Quinn : a peerage. 

110. Sir Boyle Roche: gentleman usher at the castle. 

111. R.Rutledge. 

112. Hon. C. Rowley : renegaded, and appointed to office 
by Lord Castlereagh. 

113. Hon. H. Skeffington: clerk of the paper office of the 
castle, and £7,500 for his patronage. 



i 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC* 143 

114. William Smith, a barrister : appointed a Baron of Ex- 
chequer. 

115. H. M. Sandford : created a peer ; Lord Mount Sand- 
ford. 

116. Edmond Stanley : appointed commissioner of accounts. 

117. John Staples. 

118. John Stewart : appointed Attorney General and cre- 
ated a baronet. 

119. John Stratton. 

120. Hon. B. Stratford : renegaded to get £7,500, his half 
of the compensation for Baltinglass. 

121. Hon. J. Stratford : paymaster of foreign forces, £1,300 
a year, and £7,500 for Baltinglass. 

122. Richard Sharkey: an obscure barrister; appointed a 
county judge. 

123. Thomas Stannus, renegaded. 

124. J. Savage. 

125. Rt. Hon. J. Toler, Attorney General : his wife, an old 
woman, created a peeress, himself made chief justice, and 
a peer. 

126. Frederick Trench : appointed a commissioner of the 
Board of Works. 

127. Hon. R. Trench, a barrister: created a peer, and made 
an ambassador. See red list. 

128. Charles Trench, his brother : appointed commissioner 
of inland navigation — a new office created by Lord 
Oornwallis, for rewards. 

129. Richard Talbot. 

130. P. Tottenham : compensation for patronage : cousiii 
and politically connected with Lord Ely. 

131. Chas. Tottenham : in office. 



144 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

132. Lord l^yrone : 140 offices in the gift of his family ; 
proposed the union in Parliament hy a speech written 
in the crown of his hat. 

133. ■ ■ Townsend : commissioner. 

134. Robert Tighe : commissioner of barracks. 

135. Robert Uniack : a commissioner, connected with Lord 
Clare. 

136. James Verner: called the Prince of Orange. 

137. J. O. Vandeleur : commissioner of the revenue : his 
brother a judge. 

138. Colonel Wemyse : collector of Kilkenny. 

139. Henry Westenraw : father of Lord Rossmore, who is 
the very reverse of his father's politics.— Barrington, pp. 
466, 467, 468, 469, 470, 471, 472. 



CHAPTER XH. 

AGITATION EOR CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 

The king hostile to Catholics — Pitt's resignation — Pitt vio- 
lates his promises to the Catholics — Lord Clare's disgrace 
— Castlereagh cuts his throat — Habeas corpus suspended 
—An insurrection act— Lord Norbury— The veto— the king 
refuses to make Catholics eligible to military offices — 
Catholic committee — Grattan's proposed emancipation 
bill — Suppression of the Catholic board — Napoleon's ex- 
ile — O'Connell's opposition to petitions — Reformed par- 
liament — O'Connell arrested — Friends of Ireland in the 
United States — Wellington's administration— Test oath — 
O'Connell elected for Clare. 

We have said that Pitt and Castlereagh promised the 
Catholics universal emancipation, as one of the first fruits 
of the union. Some historians tell us that Pitt was in fa- 



' Me IMSH REPUBLIC. 145 

/ 

vor of redeeming liis saered promise, but was prevented by 
the king, whose prejudice was so intense against Catholics 
that he thouglit that his coronation oath bound him to re- 
sist the just claims of the Catholics. Lord Eldon was of the 
same opinion. The old king had some method in his 
madness ; on the Catholic question his infirmity was moral 
dementia ; he was a poor deluded monomaniac. The old 
king, in a fit of rage exclaimed, after the meeting of the 
imperial parliament, in January, 1801 ; " what's this ? what's 
this ? this, that the young Lord (Castlereagh) has brought 
over from Ireland to throw at my head? The most Jacobin- 
ical thing I ever heard of! Any man that proposes such a 
thing is my personal enemy." Pitt could not change the 
old king's mind, and with some faint show of dignity, re- 
signed. But he. sacrificed his honor as a man, a gentleman 
and a statesman, by his assuring the king, three weeks 
after he had resigned, that he would never again urge the 
claims of the Catholics on his Majesty's consideration. 
Here -we have a man, whom the English people, and many 
of the Americans, revere and respect as a great man and 
statesman, violating his word. What British consistency 
this ! What a British statesman ! But this is the old story 
over again — the Punic faith of perfidious and faithless 
Albion ! Yet we have Pitt clubs, and Pitt statues to the 
memory of a man who most shamefully violated his word 
and honor in the most shameful manner. This base act of 
perfidy will never be forgotten by the Irish — no, never, 
never ! Pitt returned to ofiice in 1804, and died in 1806, 
but never made an effort to redeem his violated word and 
honor ! 

The people of Ireland at last learned, in the bitter 
19 



146 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

school of tribulation, the loss of their parliament. Even 
the mean arch-traitor, Lord Clare, was stung to the core by 
the contemptuous manner he was treated by the English 
statesmen. They had now obtained their ends, and des- 
pised the mud-sil over which they had traveled. They 
spurned with disdain, the ladder upon which they climbed 
to the pinnacle of the empire. They spurned with high 
disdain this vile minion, after they had used him to accom- 
plish their darling scheme — the union of the three king- 
doms. As Lord Clare was a traitor to his own countrj^men 
and country, English statesmen could not trust him with 
the empire. This haughty, arrogant, and overbearing traitor, 
who was a dictator in his own country, was told by English 
statesmen that " the union had not transferred his dictato- 
rial powers to the Imperial Parliament." He was neglect- 
ed even by Pitt, which preyed so much on his proud spirit, 
that he retired to Ireland, and died broken hearted. He 
was borne to the grave amidst the insults of the people, and 
his name is handed down by historians as the Benedict 
Arnold of Ireland ! Lord Castlereagh, though he prosper- 
ed for a while, at last ended his life by committing suicide. 
May this be the fate and death of tyrants. His name is 
associated v>^ith every thing vile, corrupt and detestable. 
His memory will be handed down to posterity, only to be 
despised ! 

The fate of those two ought to be a warning to young 
men, to shun the fatal road that leads to national dishonor ; 
not to barter away tlie liberty of the people for the mere 
bauble of self-interest ! What a sad spectacle are all trai- 
tors ! They should be treated as something whose very 
name is contamination—whose memory is suggestive of ev- 



THE IRISH KEPUBLIC. 147 

erything low, sordid, venal, and corrupt — despised while 
living, and detested in their graves ! Thus will the traitors 
Lord Clare and Oastlereagh be remembered ! In the mean- 
time the habeas corpus act was suspended and the insur- 
rection act was in force. England was at the same time 
menaced by the dread of a French invasion. The great 
Napoleon became the wonder of the world, and the terror 
of all Europe as well as of England. The oligarchy be- 
came cruel and blood-thirsty. The hard-hearted and des- 
potic Lord Norbury has made for himself an uninvidious 
fame for his cruelty, as a judge, which will never be forgot- 
ten. The Imperial Parliament is famous for the war 
speeches of these times, and of their denunciations of the 
great Napoleon, who had placed upon his head the iron 
crown of the Csesars. In 1805, Grattan, at the solicitation 
of Fox, was returned to Parliament from Malton, in York- 
shire. Grattan, though an anti-Jacobin,^ yet was a friend 
to the Catholics. This year, the Catholic committee, who 
had not met for several years, drew up a petition showing 
their many grievances, which was entrusted to Lord Fin- 
gall, who proceeded to London and presented it to IVIr. 
Pitt, who refused to take charge of it, contrary to his for- 
mer promises. He then gave the petition to Fox and Lord 
Grenville, who brought it before the House of Lords. Mr. 
Grattan su]3ported it in the Hotuse of Commons, but it was 
lost by a vote of 336 to 124. 

It was suggested by the oligarchy and their friends, that 
the crovfn should have " the veto^^ in the appointment of 
Bishops, so as to put the Irish clergy under the control of 
the English government. 

" By the word veto, I mean all such measures as would 



148 THE IRISH KEPUBLIC. " ' 

give the crown, or the ministers of the crown, a control 
over the appointments in the Catholic church in Ireland. 
Those measures have had diiferent names. Sometimes 
they have been called the royal negative, sometimes con- 
ditions, sometimes securities. But the object of them all 
was in one mode or the other to control the nomination to 
the Catholic sees in Ireland." — O'Connell's Speeches, vol. 
2, page 107. 

This led to various discussions, which lasted until 1810. 
It was opposed by the immortal O'Connell and his friends. 
O'Connell urged on the opposition with all the vigor of a 
young and ardent patriot. 

In 1807, George III. refused to sign a bill making Catho- 
lics eligible to military and naval offices. He required a 
pledge from Lord Grenville that they should not bring for- 
ward the same measures again, " nor ever to propose any- 
thing connected with the Catholic question." The Catholic 
question now had become the leading and absorbing ques- 
tion of the time. 

In 1809, the Catholic committee was reorganized, and to 
avoid " the convention act," was called the general com- 
mittee. They appointed a treasurer and secretary. 

In 1811, this body was dissolved, aiid Lord Fingall ar- 
rested by the Dublin authorities. The committee then 
reappeared under the name of " the Catholic Board." 

Under the lead of O'Connell and his friends, the people 
met in " aggregate meetings " to discuss the great question 
of emancipation. Now that the government had dissolved 
one organization, the people with O'Connell formed another. 

In 1811 and 1812 those great " agitators" denounced the 
Duke of Riphmojid, apd returned thanks to Lord Grenville 



THE lEISH REPUBLIC. 149 

for refusing to give the old king the anti-Catholic pledge. 
From this time O'Connell became the great leader of the 
"'agitators," — the great "man of the people." 

In 1812, Mr. Peel was appointed Irish Secretary, a fol- 
lower of the Eldon school. A rank tory. His name is 
connected with the introduction of the Irish constabulary, 
called in derision " Peelers " — a name hateful to the people 
of Ireland — a name associated with informer, spy and 
traitor ! 

In 1813, Mr. Grattan proposed an emancipation bill. 
This bill was met with the suggestion to revive the " veto " 
in the appointment of Catholic bishops, and was abandoned. 
Among the Catholics were vetoists and anti-vetoists. Sir 
Richard Lalor Shiel and Dr. Milner were in favor of the 
veto ; while O'Connell denounced it. 

In 1815 the English government thought to influence 
Pope Pius VII. in favor of the veto party. On this occasion 
CConnell sent his famous address to the Pope, giving a 
true picture of the Catholic question in Ireland. We make 
the following extract : 

" No spiritual grounds are alleged for the proposed alter- 
ation in our ecclesiastical sj^stem ; it is not pretended that 
it would advance the interests of religion, or improve i\\e 
morality of the Catholic people of Ireland; on the con- 
trary, it is proposed in opposition to the well known and 
declared opinions of our spiritual guides, and is offered as 
an exchange or barter for some temporal aid or concession ; 
it therefore becomes our duty as Catholics and as subjects, 
to state, in most explicit terms, our sentiments upon it. 

" It is considered right to assure your Holiness, in the 
lirst instance, that ^Ithougl^ the penal laws, which were 



150 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

framed for the oppression of the Catholics of Ireland, have 
been considerably relaxed during the reign of our present 
most gracious sovereign, nevertheless the hostility to our 
holy religion continues to exist in full force ; and every 
artifice is practiced, and every inducement held out, to se- 
duce the Irish Catholic from the practice and profession of 
his religion. Rewards are given to every Catholic clergy- 
man who apostatizes from his faith ; public schools and 
hospitals are maintained at great expense, in which hostil- 
ity to the creed and character of Roman Catholics consti- 
tutes the first principle of instruction ; commissioners are 
appointed to prevent Catholic institutions receiving any 
benefit from the donations of pious persons ; societies are 
established, under the favor of our rulers, for proselyting 
the Catholic poor ; and bribes offered and given to Catholic 
parents, for the purchase of their children's faith ; at the 
same time that every effort of bribery and corruption is 
exerted to influence Roman Catholic schoolmasters to se- 
duce the Roman Catholic children entrusted to their care, 
from an attachment to their creed." — O'Connell's Speeches, 
vol. 2, p. 29. 

In 1812, O'Connell denounced the Prince Regent for vi- 
olating his pledges and promises to the Catholics. Thus, 
the English Government had amused the Irish with the 
hope of emancipation, while England was at war with 
France. But in 1814, the Viceroy, Lord Withworth, sup- 
pressed the Catholic board ; but, notwithstanding his proc- 
lamation forbidding his Majesty's subjects from attending 
such meetings, after some consultation, the agitators met 
for the transaction of business. Lord Fingall, Mr. Shiel, 
Mr. Ball, and others, withdrew. 



IHE IKISii REt»UBttd. 151 

O'Connell was sustained by O'Connor Don, Purcell, 
O'Gorman, Finlay, and Lidwell. 

The American war had closed, and Napoleon was exiled 
to St. Helena. England recovered her wanton, tyrannical 
sway over Ireland. But, though England could triumph 
over Ireland, she was met at home by a new foe. The 
working and middle classes of England raised the cry of 
reform, in 1817. As the Prince Regent was returning from 
opening the Parliament of that year, he was mobbed in 
London. His carriage was riddled with stones, midst the 
hootings of the people. Though a reward of £1,000 was 
offered for the apprehension of the ring-leaders, no arrests 
were made. This was a triumph of the people ! George 
III. died in January, 1820, in his 82d year. His reign was 
the longest on record ! The same year died the noble, elo- 
quent and gifted statesman, Henry Grattan, whose memory 
will be revered by the Irish until the end of time. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

In 1821, O'Connell issued an able address to his country 
men, against any further petitions for emancipation, but to 
join the English reform party for parliamentary reform. 
He declared that he had lost all hopes of obtaining eman- 
cipation, except through a reform parliament. He was 
opposed hy the " veto " party, especially by Shiel. 

In 1823 the O'Connell party organized the Catholic Asso- 
ciation. The members were required to pay a guinea a 
year. There was a standing committee, and regular meet- 
ings were held every Saturday. This was a popular parlia- 



152 a?HE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

ment, where g,ll the grievances of Ireland were discussed. 
Church-rates, tithes, and the admission of Catholics into 
corporations. They established the Catholic rent, a penny 
a month subscription. The association was extended to 
every county in Ireland. In six months there were 24,000 
subscribers, and the next year half a million 1 The contri- 
butions to the association enabled the leaders to establish 
an evening journal in Dublin. They had means for to be 
used for parliamentary elections, and defending the peo- 
ple in the courts. In 1824: the government became alarmed 
at the vast and rapid strides of the " agitators," and O'Con- 
nell was arrested on charge of sedition in a speech, where 
he spoke of General Bolivor, the hero of South America. 
The grand jury of Dublin did not find an indictment. A 
bill was passed to suppress all unlawful associations in Ire- 
land. But O'Connell was not to be deterred, for he said he 
would "drive a coach and six through it." Though the 
association dissolved on the passage of this act, they 
formed the " New Catholic Association." In 1826 the ex- 
citement on the Catholic question agitated the whole Brit- 
ish empire. Such writers as Moore and Dr. Doyle, and the 
Edinburgh Review, and William Cobbett, and Shiel, who 
wrote French fluently, contributed to the Oazette de 
France. This agitation was carried on on the Continent of 
Europe. 

In 1826 the Duke de Montebellow, with Duvergier and 
Theyers, visited Ireland. Duvergier wrote some able ar- 
ticles on the "state of Ireland." The Duke had a reception 
at Ballinasloe, which he acknowledged, and wished their 
cause success. This caused great criticism from the oppo- 
sition in England, This roused the Paris press, which 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 153 

caused money to be sent from France to the association, as 
well as from British India, the West Indies and Canada. 

In the United States, associations were established by the 
" Friends of Ireland," by Dr. McNevin of New York, and 
Bishop England of Charleston. The press of America took 
up the question, and even allusions were made in Congress 
in favor of Catholic emancipation. 

The Wellington and Peel administration came into power 
January, 1828. At the opening of the parliament of this 
year a petition v/ith 800,000 Catholic signers, was presented 
for the repeal of " the Corporation and Test Act," which 
had been enacted against non-conformists, in the reign of 
Charles II. 

The corporation and test act was repealed in April. No 
person could before now hold any office in Ireland, civil or 
military, without first taking the following oath : — 

" I do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of God, 
profess, testify, and declare, that I do believe, that in the 
sacrament of the Lord's Supper, there is not any transub- 
stantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body 
and blood of Christ, at or after the consecration thereof, 
by any person whatsoever; and that the invocation or 
adoration of th*e Virgin Mary, m: any other saint, and the 
sacrifice of the mass, as they are now used in the church 
of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous ; and I do sol- 
emnly, in the presence of God, profess, testify, and de- 
clare, that I do make this declaration, and every part there- 
of, in the plain and ordinary sense of the words read unto 
me, as they are commonly understood by English Protest- 
ants, without any evasion, equivocation, or mental reser- 
vation, whatsoever, and without any dispensation already 
20 



154 TBE IRISH EEPUBLIC. 

granted me for this purpose, by the Pope, or any authority 
or person whatsoever, or without any hope of any such 
dispensation from any person or authority whatsoever, or 
without thinking that I am or can be acquitted before God 
or man, or absolved of this declaration, or any part thereof 
— although the Pope, or any other person or persons, or 
power whatsoever, should dispense with or annul the same, 
or declare that it was null or void from the beginning. " — 
O'Connell's Speeches, vol. 2, p. 30. 

Peel and Wellington had become odious to the people of 
Ireland. And O'Connell and the Catholic association pub- 
licly pledged themselves to oppose every man who took 
office under the Peel and Wellington administration. 

Mr. O'Connell oflfered himself as a candidate for Clare 
against Mr. Fitzgerald. All of the association repaired to 
Clare, the scene of the contest. The people of Clare, 
who were under the very eyes of their landlords, elected 
O'Connell. Mr. Fitzgerald wrote his dispatch to Peel: 
"All the great interests, my dear Peel, broke down, and 
the desertion has been universal. Such a scene as we had ! 
Such a tremendous prospect as is open before us." Mr. 
O'Connell was received in Dublin with great acclamation 
of joy ! Mr. Lawless was escorted, on his way to Belfast, 
by a multitude of 100,000 men. Troops were sent over 
from England, but whole companies as they landed in Wa- 
terford and Dublin made the air ring with shouts and 
cheers for O'Connell. Beresford predicted a second act of 
1798, but on a more formidable scale ! 

" And now arose the most tremendous clamor of alarmed 
Protestantism that had been heard in the three kingdoms 
since the days of James II., the last king who had dreamed 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 155 

of placing Catholics and Protestants on something like an 
approach to equality. Multitudinous petitions, not only 
from Irish Protestants, but from Scottish Presbyterians, 
from English Universities, from corporations of British 
towns, from private individuals, came pouring into parlia- 
ment, praying that the great and noble Protestant State of 
England should not be handed over to the Jesuits, the In- 
quisitors and the Propaganda. Never was such a jumble 
of various topics, sacred and profane, as in these petitions. 
Vested interests; idolatry! of the mass; principles of the 
Hanoverian succession ; the inquisition ; eternal privileges 
of the Protestant tailors, or lightermen ; our holy religion ; 
and the beast of the Apocalypse ; all were urged with ve- 
hement eloquence upon the enlightened legislators of Brit- 
ain."— Mitchel, p. 506. 

On the 5th of March, 1828, Peel moved a committee of 
the whole house to go into a committee to " consider of 
the civil disabilities of his Majesty's Roman Catholic sub- 
jects," which passed by a majority of 188. 

The great iron Duke was affected by the alarming state 
of the empire. Parliament was called on the 5th of March, 
and on the 31st of March the bill passed the House of Lords ; 
on the day after it received the royal assent. So exasper- 
ated were the " ascendency party " in Ireland, and the 
bigots in England, on the passage of Catholic emancipation, 
that the imbecile George IV., in a fit of rage, trampled 
upon the first pen that was handed to him to sign the bill 
for Catholic emancipation. He shed tears on this occasion j 
By the insertion of the word " hereafter," Mr. O'Connell 
was compelled to go back for a second election. While the 
bill was under discussion, Mr. O'Connell presented himself 



156 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

at the bar of the House of Commons, claiming his seat. 
He advanced to the table to he sworn, but refused to take 
the oath of abjuration. He afterwards pleaded his cause 
at the bar of the House, and withdrew. On motion of the 
Solicitor General it was decided " that Mr. O'Oonnell should 
not sit or vote in this House unless he first take the oath 
of supremacy." This motion was carried by 190 against 
116. So Mr. O'Connell had to present himself once more 
before the people of Clare for re-election. He was return- 
ed to fill a seat in the commons, where he afterwards dis- 
tinguished himself — where he became one of the foremost 
debaters and a true friend of Ireland, until death closed his 
career! 

O'Connell gives this sad picture of Ireland under the 
penal laws, before emancipation. " My days, the blossom 
of my youth and the flower of my manhood, have been 
darkened by the dreariness of servitude. In this, my na- 
tive land — in the land of my sires — I am a degraded out- 
cast. We do not, my lord, deserve this treatment. We 
are stamped by the creator with no inferiority, and man is 
guilty of injustice when he deprives us of our just station 
in society. I despise him who can timidly and meanly 
acquiesce in the injustice. Oh, let us at length seize the 
opj)ortunity of abolishing the oppression for ever !" — O'Con- 
nell's Speeches, vol. 1, p. 81. 

We now behold how a few brave, public spirited men by 
keeping up an agitation for years, had at last wrung from 
their oppressors their just and inalienable rights. By a 
firm and unconquerable will the great agitator roused the 
indignation of the enlightened ^orld against the govern- 
ment of England, for the oppressive and tyrannical sway 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 157 

she wielded over Ireland for centuries ! Let not Irishmen 
ever despair of the ultimate freedom of their dear father- 
land ! 

Let us keep alive the sacred fire of liberty from genera- 
tion to generation. Let us follow the bright example of 
the brave patriots of 1782. Let us follow the example of 
the immortal O'Connell and his ever indefatigable efforts 
for civil and religious liberty for all mankind- Let us never 
despair, but keep united, with the hope always before us, 
that Ireland will be free. Let us ever keep before us that 
talismanic luminary, the " Sun-burst." England cannot 
avoid the fate of the great nations of yore. Her weakness 
is Ireland's strength. Time will give us all that we want, 
the freedom and liberty of our dear fatherland ! 

We, Irishmen in America, must follow the example of 
the " Friends of Ireland." We are now a power on this 
continent. We are the balance of power. Let us always 
direct that power towards the liberation of Ireland — whether 
on the Atlantic border, the great Mississippi valley, or the 
golden slope of the Pacific. Let us not forget that we are 
destined by a wise providence to work out the final re- 
demption of an oppressed land ! Let us not forget the land 
of our boyhood. The land of our sires and the graves of 
our fathers ! The land where our sires have fought and 
bled. The land of battle and noble deeds of valor. The 
land of music and song. The land of true hospitality to 
the stranger ! The land of warriors, bards, orators, and 
patriots ! Oh ! let us never become recreant to the land 
where we breathed the first pure air of heaven. Let ns be 
true Irishmen, and we will yet see our fatherland free. 
We, of this land, cao aid to complicate the affairs of En- 



158 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

gland. We can show that we are worthy of being free 
men by aiding by might and wisdom the noble work, the 
bright destiny of Ireland — her goal of freedom. 

The destiny of Ireland is a free republic. Then Irishmen 
in all climes can raise their heads, and say, our country is 
free ! Again, I say, let us never despair of the freedom of 
Ireland ! Remember that the colonies of America over- 
whelmed English power. They had their dark hours, but 
they fought and conquered. And the once feeble colonies 
have become the mighty republic of the world ! the land 
of refuge for the oppressed of all nations! Oh! what a 
noble example for Ireland to follow ! 

How little do many Irishmen think of the services 
which O'Connell rendered to Ireland ; what chains have been 
severed from their limbs. If we remember that in the reign 
of George 11. it was declared by the Lord Chancellor and 
the Chief Justice of the king's bench, in Ireland, that the 
law does not suppose any such person as an " Irish Roman 
Catholic " to exist ! ! ! Catholics were outside the pale of 
the law ! This may be seen from the following document, 
which shows that an Irishman's head was worth only five 
marks. Killing an Irishman was not murder^ during the 
reign of the ascendency of the pale : — 

" The mere Irish were not only accounted aliens, but en- 
emies, and altogether out of the protection of the law ; 
so it was no capital offense to kill them; and this is 
manifest by many records. At a jail delivery at Water- 
ford, before John Wogan, Lord Justice of Ireland, the 4th 
of Edward II., we find it recorded among the pleas of the 
crown of that year, '■That Robert Wallace heing arraigned 
of the death of John.) the son of Jiior MacGillemoryy hy 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 159 

him feloniously slain^'' and so forth, came and well acknowl- 
edged that he slew the aforesaid John, yet he said that by 
his slaying he could not commit felony, because, he said, 
the aforesaid John was a mere Irishman, and not of five 
bloods, and so forth ; and he further said, that inasmuch 
as the lord of the aforesaid John, whose Irishman the said 
John was, on the day on which he was slain, had sought 
payment for the aforesaid slaying of the aforesaid John as 
his Irishman. He, the said Robert, Avas ready to answer 
for such payment as was just in thatbeh^-lf. And thereup- 
on a certain John Le Poer came, and for our lord the king- 
said, that the aforesaid John, the son of Juor MacGillemo- 
ry, and his ancestors of that surname, from the time on 
which our Lord Henry Fitz-Empress, heretofore Lord of 
Ireland, the ancestor of our lord the now king, was in Ire- 
land, the law of England in Ireland thence to the present 
day, of right had and ought to have, and according to 
that law ought to be judged and inherit. And so plead- 
ed the character of denization granted to the Ostmen re- 
cited before, all which appeareth at large in the said rec- 
ord, wherein we may note that killing of an Irishman was 
not punished by our law, as manslaughter, which is felony 
and capital (for our law did neither protect his life nor 
avenge his death), but by a fine or pecuniary punishment, 
which is called anericke, according to the Brehon, or Irish 
law." 

Another similar case took place in the city of Limerick^ 
which may interest the reader. We will insert an extract 
from the record. The case was tried in the reign of Ed- 
ward 11. "Williani Fitz-Roger, being arraigned for the 
death of Roger de Cantelon, by him feloniously slain, 



160 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

comes and says that he could not commit felony by means 
of such killing ; because the aforesaid Roger was an Irish- 
man, and not of free blood. And further says that the 
said Roger was of the surname of O'Hederiscal, and not of 
the surname of Cantelon ; and of this he jDuts himself oh 
the country, and so forth. And the jury upon their oaths 
say, that the aforesaid Roger was an Irishman of the sur- 
name of O'Hederiscal, and for an Irishman, was reputed all 
his life ; and therefore, the said William, as far as regards 
the aforesaid felony, is acquitted. But as much as the 
aforesaid Roger O'Hederiscal was an Irishman of our lord 
the king, the aforesaid William was recommitted to jail, 
until he shall find pledges to ]3ay five marks to our lord the 
king, for the value of the aforesaid Irishman." 

Thus ended the days of the penal laws which excluded 
the Catholics of Ireland from all participation in the so- 
called British Constitution and laws. They were put out- 
side of the -pale of the law. They were in consequence of 
the odious penal code, made aliens in the land of their 
forefathers. This infamous and bloody code prevented 
them from acquiring an interest in the soil. If a Catholic 
purchased a freehold, his Protestant neighbor could take it 
from him without paying one cent of the purchase money. 
A Catholic was not allowed to own a horse worth more 
than £5, for if he owned a horse worth even £30 his Prot- 
estant neighbor could take the horse on tendering to his 
unfortunate Catholic neighbor £5. The great object of 
the pe?ial code was to keep the Catholics in the most abject 
poverty. It was made a penal offense, punishable by 
transportation beyond the seas, for to teach a Catholic 
science or literature. Thus they were doomed by law from 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 161 

receiving an education, and then taunted for being igno- 
rant ! A reward was offered for the hfead of a Catholic 
schoolmaster. The Catholic schools, in the time of the 
penal code, were held in mountains, glens and under hedg- 
es. Hence the term " hedge schools." Catholics were ex- 
cluded from all offices, civil or military. They were dis- 
qualified by this odious law from sitting on juries ! They 
were excluded from all corporations. They were disfran- 
chised, and had no voice in the making of these laws which 
they were forced to obey. Catholic loi^is could not vote in 
the house of lords. Catholic bishops and priests were pro- 
hibited from exercising the functions of their religion in 
Ireland under the pains and penalties of death ! The mild- 
est punishment was transportation beyond the seas ; and if 
they returned from banishment they were deemed guilty 
of high treason, and hanged, drawn and quartered ! Priest 
hunting was a money-making business in those evil times. 
Priests and bishops had to hide in mountains, bogs, glens 
and caverns. The same sum was paid for a priest's head as 
was paid for the head of a wolf. The humanity of the 
penal code would not permit priests to be educated in Ire- 
land ; they had to go to the colleges of Spain, France, and 
Kome. For such j)riests to return to Ireland was made 
high treason. It was also made penal to shelter priests 
or bishops. Commissioners were appointed to repair to 
the seaports in order to arrest such priests or bishops, or 
any person giving them aid or comfort. We will quote an 
order of the good Queen Bess for the arrest of priests: 

" In order to defeat the secret machinations of these semi- 
naries, Jesuits and other traitors, who are urging the king 
of Spain to his present designs, and under a garb of sanc- 
21 



16^ THE IRISH REPUBLIC* 

tity, insinuate themselves into the minds of our subjects, 
and encourage them to rebel, we l*i^ve determined to send 
commissioners immediately to all countries, provinces, 
towns, villages, and seaports of our kingdom, with orders to 
make every necessary effort for the discovery of such char- 
acters as think any obedience whatsoever is due to the 
Pope or to the king of Spain. ' 

" Being aware that several of these seminarians, dis- 
guised in female attire, enter our kingdom, and by assum- 
ing the name of foreigners, gain admittance into the uni- 
versities, courts of princes, and the families of noblemen, 
we expressly command each and every one, of what rank, 
sect, condition, or dignity soever they may be, even the 
oiScers of our household, the ministers and magistrates, the 
heads of families, and pastors, to search carefully for all 
who within the past fourteen months have frequented their 
houses, and have lived, slept, eaten with, or labored for 
them, or may labor for them in future ; also to give a re- 
turn of their names, rank, and quality, their birthplace, and 
where they have lived for a whole year before they came 
to their houses, on what they subsist, how thej'" have been 
employed, what places they frequented, and those with 
whom they keep intercourse, and if, at the periods prescribed 
by law, they have attended divine service in our churches. 

" We likewise command that these inquiries, with the 
answers given them, be committed to writing by the heads 
of each family, and that they be carefully preserved, in 
order that they may be resorted to by our commissioners as 
they may think proper, both for the discovery of doubtful 
characters and to convince them of the correctness and 
loyalty of the fathers of families. 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 163 

" Should any hesitate to answer, or appear to waver in 
their testimony, it is our will that they be forthwith arrest- 
ed, and brought under a strong guard to the nearest com- 
missioner ; and that the same measure be enforced against 
the heads of families who will manifest omission or lenity 
in the investigations; and that our commissioners shall 
punish, according to the degree of their offense, such as 
may have been known to have favored suspected persons, 
or to have neglected giving them up within twenty days 
after the publication of this decree. They shall be sub- 
jected to the same penalty as traitors and rebels, and like- 
wise will be deemed their abettors and accomplices, in 
faith of which we ordain, expressly and firmly, that no fa- 
vor or respect be shown to either rank or dignity, and final- 
ly, that no neglect be tolerated in those who have not 
discovered traitors, or used their exertions for the discove- 
ry of them, which so far from being contrary to law, are 
in accordance with the most ancient laws and customs of 
our kingdom, for the maintenance of that obedience which 
is due to us and to the stability of our government." 

* * " She (Elizabeth) condemned those who refused to 
take the oath of supremacy, to death, and deprived them 
of their estates — their refusal being considered an act of 
high treason." — MacGeoghegan, p. 503. 

The dominant party, by virtue of the bloody penal code, 
could inflict their Catholic neighbors with all the horrors of 
nocturnal visits, whenever it suited their avarice, or when 
prompted by the demon of hate and revenge. Search for 
Catholic priests was deemed fair game at any time. They 
could rob Catholics at pleasure. The very authorities 
themselves disgraced and perverted the law for filthy lucre 



164 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. ' ' ' >* 

and the vilest purposes. For a Catholic to olTend any of 
the local petty tyrants, the so-called magistrates, he was 
sure of being put to death. The proprietor of the " Great 
House'''' reigned in his little territory as a petty king. 
Every court and castle liad its petty Nimrod. Obedience 
to their will and sweet pleasure was the law of the neigh- 
borhood. A Catholic, or indeed a poor liberal Protestant, 
had no rights which these tyrants were bound to respect. 

" No Catholic or reputed Catholic, had a moment's secu- 
rity or peace. At all hours, but generally in the night 
time, the agents of the queen entered his house by break- 
ing it open ; rushed in different directions into the rooms ; 
broke open closets, chests, drawers ; rummaged beds and 
pockets — everywhere for crosses, vestments, prayer or 
mass books, or anything appertaining to the Catholic wor- 
ship, or that could afford suspicion that a priest frequented 
the house. As to the poorer portion of the Catholics, those 
who were not able to pay these heavy fines, they were 
whipped publicly ; they were branded with red-hot irons 
in the forehead or ears ; and none durst let them in or har- 
bor them. 

"There were many kinds of torture invented by this 
cruel woman ; but her favorite engine was the rack, which 
we must examine as presented to us by the English histori- 
an. Dr. Lingard :— 

" The rack was a large open frame of oak, raised three 
feet from the ground. The prisoner was stretched on his 
back, on the floor, under this square frame ; his wrists and 
ankles were attached, by cords, to rollers at the ends of the 
frame; these were tightened by drawing the cords in oppo- 
site directions, by levers, till the body rose from the floor 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. " 165 

to a level with the frame. Questions were then put to the 
unfortunate victim, and, if the answers did not prove sat- 
isfactory, the sufferer was stretched more and more, till the 
bones started from their sockets." — Mooney, vol. 1, pp. 639- 
40-41. 

The sacred functions of religion were employed for the 
confiscation of Irish estates. The Irish were despoiled of 
their homes in the name of God and liberty. Confiscation 
was deemed by the agents of Elizabeth as the most potent 
means for converting the Irish Catholics. Every vile 
scheme of the "undertakers" had for its object the plun- 
der of the Irish by some means or other — for the salvation 
of their souls, of course ! 

" The agents of Elizabeth pursued, by her direction, a 
crafty course. They did not disclose their objects in gen- 
eral confiscation and extermination. They engaged in the 
warfare of the chiefs and clans against each other. In some 
places they warred openly, and vanquished and cut down 
whole districts, parceling out the lands of the slain amongst 
the survivors of English adventurers, who now came into 
the country. On the breaking up of the monasteries in 
England, and the consequent withdrawal of employment 
and relief which had been previously afforded to the peo- 
ple by the industrious and considerate monks, the towns of 
England became thronged with idle, starving people, who 
gladly enlisted in any enterprise which promised them a 
change from their present condition. Already had a scale 
of booty been laid down and afforded to all those who 
should volunteer into the Queen's f'tmj for the conquest of 
Ireland. To a footman one hundred and twenty acres, and 
to a horseman two hundred acres, of the lands of Ireland, 



166 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

were proposed to be given, which were to "be held in fee 
from the queen, or from some of her favorites, on payment 
of a penny or two pence per annum, per acre, by the fortu- 
nate soldiers. 

" It does not surprise us to be told that the half of the 
inhabitants of England and Scotland were in motion for 
the pillage and butchery of the unfortunate people of Ire- 
land. To heighten the materials of strife, the sacred name 
of religion was introduced between the combatants. The 
whole system of the penal laws of England, against those 
who adhered to the Catholic religion, was transferred to 
Ireland. Those who refused to conform to the queen's 
standard of worship were fined so heavily that their estates 
were soon consumed. These estates, whether owned by 
persons of English or Irish extraction, were confiscated to 
the queen, and given to her new favorites, for distribution 
among their followers. 

" Religion was only used as a pretence, to seize on all 
the property of the nation ; and, more absurdly monstrous, 
the Irish people really did not know what the form of faith 
was which the queen proposed for their adoption." — Moo- 
ney, vol. 1, pp. 645-46. 

" On the 23d of February, 1641, an order was issued from 
the council chamber of Dublin Castle, to kill every human 
being supposed to be a rebel, or who gave assistance to a 
supposed rebel. This dreadful order was literally carried 
into effect ; and the justices declare, says Leland, (book 6,) 
" that the soldiers slew all persons promiscuously, not spar- 
ing the women or chiloj^en." 

If a Catholic, but especially a Catholic priest, provoked 
the displeasure of the local magistrates, in the days of the 



tHE IRISH REPUBLIC. 167 

penal laws, he was doomed to be cut off and his property 
confiscated by some vile scheme or another. A complaint 
or charge of inciting whiteboys, or of being a whiteboy, 
was very convenient at any time to put a victim to death. 
For the magistrates, those demons in human clothing, had 
the purse and the sword, even the courts of law, such as 
they were, at their disposal. They could employ the gov- 
ernment funds to bribe corrupt and perjured wretches to 
swear away the lives of their innocent victims. In this 
manner the laws of England were perverted to subserve 
the vile and diabolical ends of the oligarchy. No wonder 
the people should rejoice at the dawn of religious liberty. 

John Mitchell gives the following picture of the blood- 
stained Sir Thomas Maude, in his bloody career in Tippe- 
rary in persecuting Father Sheehy : 

"But his" (Father Sheehy) " inveterate enemies, who, 
like so many blood-hounds had pursued him to Dublin, 
finding themselves disappointed there, resolved upon his 
destruction at all events. One Bridge, an infamous inform- 
er against some of those who had been executed for these 
riots, was said to have been murdered by their associates 
in revenge (although his body could never be found, and a 
considerable reward was offered for discovering and con- 
victing the murderer). Sheehy, immediately after his ac- 
quittal in Dublin for rebellion, was indicted by his pursu- 
ers for this murder, and, notwithstanding the promise given 
him by those in office on surrendering himself, he was 
transmitted to Clonmel, to be tried there for the new crime, 
and, upon the sole evidence of the same infamous witness, 
whose testimony had been so justly reprobated in Dublin, 
was there condemned to be hanged and quartered for the 



168 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

murder of a man who was never murdered at all. What 
barefaced injustice and inhumanity were shown to this 
unfortunate man on that occasion, is known and testified to 
by many thousands of credible persons who were present, 
and eye-witnesses on the day of his trial. A party of horse 
surrounded the court, admitting and excluding whomso- 
ever they thought proper, while others of them, vith Sir 
Thomas Maude at their head, scampered the streets in a 
formidable manner, breaking into inns and private <Bodgings 
in the town, challenging all new-comers, menacing the 
prisoner's friends, and encouraging his enemies ; even after 
sentence of death was pronounced against him (which one 
would think might have satisfied the malice of his enemies) 
his attorney found it necessary for his safety, to steal out of 
the town by night, and with all j)Ossible speed make his 
escape to Dublin. The head of the brave murdered priest 
Yv^as spiked over the gates of Clonmell jail, and there re- 
mained twenty years." — Mitchel, pp. 101-2. 

Queen Anne has made her reign infamous for her sanc- 
tion of the odious penal laws, a qode which disgraces 
even humanity. Those laws w.ere never made in the spirit 
of religion, but in vile perversion of religion for political 
purposes. The sanctuary of religion was invaded, and lib- 
erty of conscience forbidden under pain of death. The 
darling object of the authors of those penal laws was to 
rob Catholics of their estates, and thus to exclude them 
from all participation in the laws of their country. We 
copy from an Irish historian the following, sliowing tlie 
tyranny of England under Queen Anne : 

"The good Queen Anne endeavored to excel his majesty 
(William) in her affection for her Irish subjects. She 



'rttE IRISH REPUBLIC. 169 

therefore commenced her administration of Ireland with a 
perfidious violation of every law, divine and human. Hav- 
ing had the unprincipled courage to break the solemn obli- 
gations into which the English nation had entered with 
Ireland, when the latter agreed to lay down her arms at 
Limerick, the English government could, with less difficul- 
ty, proceed to the commission of every outrage which its 
avarice, or its spirit of despotism might chance to suggest. 
Queen Anne introduced her ferocious system of govern- 
ment in Ireland by an act which went to expel the inhabi- 
tants of Ireland from the lands of their fathers. She enact- 
ed that no Catholic should have power of purchasing any 
part of the forfeited lands ; and that all leases which miglit 
have been made of such lands, shall be annulled, except 
those leases which might have been made to the poor cot- 
tagers of two acres; thus giving to the Irish such privi- 
leges as might best secure their vassalage to their task- 
masters. ' A law so barbarous,' says Mr, O'Connor, ' has no 
parallel in the history of nations.' Yet the genius of the 
' good Queen Anne ' could surpass the barbarity, as we 
shall see hereafter. No lapse of time could purge the 
Catholic of the hideo^^8 crime of fidelity to his religion and 
attachment to his country. Never could he have the pow- 
er, by the honorable labors of industry, of recovering 
those lands which were forfeited by the intemperate spirit 
of his fathers. He should consent to abandon every 
principle of honor and morality before he could be quali- 
fied to be received into the bosom of the glorious constitu- 
tion. Such an act miglit have for some time satisfied the 
craving appetite of rapacity; but so long as the victim 
had life, so long had the oppressor a propensity to indulge 
22 



170 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

in cruelty. The act, therefore, which in its vicious per- 
fection seems to reach the very summit of monopolizing 
malignity, is the act for preventing the further growth of 
Popery, by which Presbyterian and Catholic were equally 
levelled to the ground; in which the advocates of the 
church took their merciless vengeance on their old repub- 
lican persecutors, whose industry and genius were then 
raising the worth of Ireland into wealth, numbers and con- 
sequence. This wealth might have circulated among the 
Catholics of the west and the south ; and the spirit of polit- 
ical liberty, which ever found an asylum in the bosom of the 
Presbyterian, might have communicated its contagion to 
the almost extinguished embers of Catholic patriotism. 
The bill above mentioned, so celebrated for its infamy, 
went to the total expulsion of the Catholics from any right 
or property in land. It disabled them from purchasing 
either lands or tenements, or taking by inheritance, devise, 
or gift, anj lands iil'^'the hands of Protestants ; making all 
estates which they might then hold, descendable by gavel 
kind, except in cases of conformity of the eldest son, ren- 
dering the father a mere tenant for life, depriving him of 
the power of alienating, mortgaging or encumbering, even 
for the support or the advancement of younger children, 
except under the control and discretion of the chancellor. 
Had the ' good Queen Anne ' and her Irish monopolists 
passed an act which would have banished the entire Cath- 
olic population of Ireland to some foreign though hospitable 
country, humanity might have had some consolation on 
which it might have reposed. But this would not have 
been the complete and finished work of despotism, which 
advocates of the free constitution of England so fondly 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 171 

meditated in Ireland. The Catholic slave would no lon- 
ger have ministered to the pastime of the task-master-^ 
the torture would have been removed, and the groans of 
the suffering, though unoffending people, would have no 
longer soothed their tyrants to the sweet sleep of peace 
and security." — Lawless' History of Ireland, volume 2, pp. 
320-1-2. 

" The 27th of Elizabeth — the old act of uniformity— was 
vigorously enforced. The Catholic lawyers were disbarred 
and silenced ; the Catholic schoolmasters were forbidden to 
teach, under pain of felony. Recusants, surrounded in 
glens and caves, offering up the holy sacrifice through the 
ministrj^ of some daring priest, were shot down or smoked 
out like vermin. The ecclesiastics never, in any instance, 
were allowed to escape. Among those who suffered death 
during the short space of the Protectorate, we counted 
three bishops and three hundred ecclesiastics. The surviv- 
ing prelates were in exile, except the bed-ridden Bishop of 
Kilmore, who for years had been unable to officiate. So 
that, now that the ancient hierarchy, which in the worst 
Danish wars had still recruited its ranks as fast as they 
were broken, seemed on the very eve of extinction." — Mc- 
Gee, Hist. Ireland, vol. 2, pp. 550-51. 

The following is from a historian of the pale — one of the 
dominant party : 

" The means of conversion which the Protector (Somer- 
set) designed to use in Ireland, were soon exemplified. A 
party, issuing from the gatrison of Athlone, attacked the 
ancient church of Clonmacnoise, destroyed its ornaments, 
and defiled its altars. Similar excesses were committed in 
other parts of the country; and the first impression pro- 



173 - , TIJE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

ducedby the advocates of the reformed religion was, that 
the new system sanctioned sacrilege and robbery."— Taylor's 
History of the Civil Wars of Ireland. 

The following picture of Ireland's wrongs is taken from a 
colonial historian of the pale : 

" Extortions and oppressions of the soldiers in various 
excursions from their quarters, for levying the king's rents, 
or supporting the civil power ; a rigorous and tyrannical 
execution of martial law in time of peace ; a dangerous 
and unconstitutional power assumed by the privy council 
in deciding causes determinable by common law ; their se- 
vere treatment of witnesses and jurors in the castle cham- 
ber, whose evidence or verdicts had been displeasing to the 
State ; the grievous exactions of the established clergy for 
the occasional duties of their functions ; and the severity 
of ^Q> ecclesiastical courts." — Leland. 

Cromwell and his saints plundered the people for the 
good of their souls, and reduced them to the most abject 
poverty. Papists and rebels were the names applied to 
the Irish Catholics who resisted the power of this usurper 
and invader. His march through the country was marked 
with the blood of his victims. He wasted the country with 
fire, sword and famine. In vain do we search the history 
of the world, ancient or modern, for a more inhuman or 
merciless butcher. Cromwell's saints tried the experi- 
ment of converting the Irish with the Bible in one hand 
and the sword in the other — " blood on their hands and 
Scripture on their lips." His method of converting the 
Irish, was not by argument, but by the sAvord and plun- 
der. His so-called courts of justice are known as "Crom- 
well's slaughter houses," to this day. 



THE IRISH EEPtJBLIC. 173 

We will c[uote the following from Lawless : 
" Courts of justice were appointed whose sanguinary 
decrees suggested the name of ' Cromwell-s slaughter 
houses.' These infamous tribunals were erected under the 
pretext of "bringing to justice the promoters of, and the 
actors in the rebellion of 1641; but the real object was the 
confiscation of property, and the destruction of the Irish. 
The feelings of humanity and the principles were boasting- 
ly trampled on. To be cruel to the Irish was to be humane 
and religious ; to plunder their properties and beggar their 
children, was to enrich the godly and disseminate the 
gospel. Thus would the rapacious destroyer insult the 
justice of Omnipotence by the hyjDocritical adoption of His 
word, and the religion w"hich was intended to give peace 
and security to mankind, was made the instrument of des- 
olation and barbarity. * * * A writer cotemporary with 
those tragical ev^ents'^d Morrison) strains his memory for ex- 
amples of such relentless barbarity as was exhibited in 
Ireland. ' Neither the Israelites,' he says, ' were more 
cruelly persecuted by Pharaoh, nor the innocent infants by 
Herod, nor the christians by Nero, nor any of the other 
pagan tyrants, than were the Roman Catholics of Ireland 
at this fatal juncture, by Cromwell's savage commission- 
ers.' " — Lawless' History of Ireland, vol. 2, pp. 148-49-50. 

Ireland also suffered under the vile reign of the so-called 
" good Queen Anne." Her policy was not only to deprive 
the Irish Catholics of all rights under the law, but to ruin 
their trade and commerce. Monopoly and high tariffs 
were the weapons which proved more disastrous to the 
Irish than the sword of the warrior. In this reign the infa- 
mous and bloody penal code drove multitudes of Irishmen 



174 THE IBISH EEPUBLIC. 

to seek shelter on the continent of Europe. Can any intel- 
ligent and unprejudiced mind wonder that the Irish are un- 
willing subjects of England. That notwithstanding their 
many defeats in their struggle for independence, that they 
should still hope for an opportunity to free their country ; 
that whenever England is involved in difficulties the Irish 
should strike for the freedom of their fatherland. 

The same patriotic writer gives us a sad picture of En- 
glish despotism — of the cruel spirit of monopoly. The spirit 
of rule or ruin in the reign of Queen Anne : 

" The furious and insatiable spirit of monopoly preferred 
the government of a desert to that of a happy and con- 
tented people ; and the constitution in church and state was 
pronounced secure against its enemies, when the people of 
Ireland were stripped of every privilege and every right 
which separates humanity from the brute creation. Mr. 
Mathew O'Connor has summed up the^ effects of the fero- 
cious law of Queen Anne, in a strong and comprehensive 
description, creditable to the sensibility which dictated it, 
and worthy of the spirit of his ancient and respectable 
family. 'The immediate effect of this law,' he writes, 
' was the emigration of vast numbers of the inhabitants, 
who sought shelter in exile, and found a refuge in the ar- 
mies of the Catholic powers of the continent. The senti- 
ment of persecution was completed by this act, and never 
was system attended with more effectual success ; private 
manners were debauched, public sentiment debased, and 
every faculty of the mind enervated. The contrast of the 
sudden and certain acquisition of landed property by the 
obvious and easy method of discovery, with the slow and 
uncertain acq^uirement of wealth by the laborious pursuits 



THE iRtSH REPUBLIC. 175 

of industry, nourished the principle of dishonesty, and the 
total disregard of shame and infamy. The rewards of con- 
formity cherished the seeds of rebellion in the minds of 
the children against parents, and of distrust in the minds 
of parents against children.' " — Lawless' Hist. Ireland, vol. 
2, pp. 327-28. 

During the days of the infamous penal code. Catholics, 
as we have said before, were not allowed to be educated in 
Ireland. But the governments of France and Spain estab- 
lished colleges for the instruction of the Catholic Irish 
youth. All the Catholics of Ireland, prior to the passage 
of the second Catholic relief bill in 1793, had to go to 
foreign countries to get an education. The poorer classes 
had to follow the Irish schoolmasters to the wild moun- 
tains or unfrequented glens. The humanity of the British 
government in the plenitude of its religious zeal, issued an 
order commanding such Irish students to return home. 
This same order prohibited parents or guardians sending 
money to such students. It was also made a penal offense, 
punishable with death, to harbor or shelter priests or 
bishops. 

" An edict was published commanding all who had chil- 
dren, wards or relations in foreign countries, to send, within 
ten d^s, their names to the judge of the district, to recall 
them within foUr months, and present them immediately 
on their return, to the said judge. By the same edict it was 
prohibited to send them money ; and every one was strictly 
forbidden to receive these Seminaries or Jesuits into his 
house, or to support, nourish, or relieve them in any man- 
ner, under pain of being considered rebels, and punished 
according to the laws. In consequence of this proclama^ 



lI'G THte IRISH REPUHLld 

tioii, several priests, Jesuits, and monks, suffered martyr- 
dom." 

In the early days of the reformation, the confiscation of 
the estates of the Irish gave a new stimulant to converts 
from that faith which was under the terrors of the law, to 
join that faith which held out the double lure of the good 
things of this world with those of the next, but especially 
the estates of the pre-doomed Irish Catholics. 

The British parliament confiscated the property of bish- 
ops who conferred on Irish Catholics any privileges what- 
ever. The Irish Catholics were deemed to be outside of 
the protection of all law, human or divine. The British 
parliament passed several acts for the establishment of the 
Protestant religion. The sword and confiscation were con- 
sidered more potent than the preacliings of the apostles or 
the writings of the fathers. 

" In the council of England it was decreed that the pos- 
sessions of every archbishop, bishop, abbot, or prior in Ire- 
land, should be seized, who would present to, or confer on 
Irish rebels, any benefice, or would introduce them among 
the English at any parliament, council, or other assembly 
of the kingdom. All governors, too, were forbidden to 
confirm such benefices, or to grant any dispensation for 
possessing them, under pain of having them annulled. 

•X- * s.- uffj^g desire of increasing their possessions 
causing the latter constantly to encroach upon the proper- 
ties of their neighbors. The Irish, indeed, enjoyed no pro- 
tection from the laws, but were looked upon, not as sub- 
jects, but as strangers and enemies, in the land which gave 
them birth. They were continually exposed to the unjust 
aggressions of their adversaries, and therefore forced to 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. l77 

violate their engagements and break out into rebellion.'" — 
MacGeoghegan. 

" The law which compelled the Irish to return to their 
own country, was renewed in England ; and it was pro- 
hibited to all of the king's subjects in Ireland to emigrate 
to England, A. D. 1438."— MacGeoghegan, p. 362. 

" Several acts were passed in this parliament for the es- 
tablishment of the reformation in Ireland ; all the spiritual 
and ecclesiastical authorities were annexed to the crown, 
and all foreign influence (which implied that of the Pope) 
was prohibited ; all acts appertaining to appeals were re- 
newed 5 * * * the queen and her successors were 
given the power of exercising clerical jurisdiction by com- 
mission ; every individual, whether lay or ecclesiastical, in 
possession of livings and offices, was obliged to take the 
oath of supremacy under pain of losing their livings or 
appointments ; whoever would introduce or support a for- 
eign power was to be punished by having his property con- 
fiscated, or by a year's imprisonment, for the first offeiise ; 
for the second, he was to undergo the penalty of the law 
of praemunire^ and for the third, that of high treason. 
* * * Thus was the Senate established judge of the faith, 
without any mission but that which was received from a 
woman." — Ibid. 

The British Parliament established by law the worship 
and discipline of the new religion. Irishmen were now 
compelled, under pain of death and confiscation of their 
homes, to give up the religion of their fathers for a religion 
established by the parliament of England, although they 
had no voice in the making of those laws, such as they 
were. The reader wiU think it strange that any parliament 



178 THE IKISH REPUBLIC, 

should arrogate to itself the right of so regulating the con- 
sciences of men, much more so of those who had no hand 
or part in the making of such laws. This was one of the 
worst systems of the union of church and state recorded in 
the history of nations, ancient or modern. 

'' This parliament also passed acts ordaining the uniform- 
ity of the common prayer, regulating the sacraments, par- 
ticularly that of the Lord's Supper, and also the consecra- 
tion of prelates according to the ritual of the book of com- 
mon prayer, as approved by Edward VI., under pain of fine 
to be paid by the delinquents. The first refusal led to the 
confiscation of a year's income of the culprit, and six 
months' imprisonment. The second to the loss of his living, 
and a year's imprisonment; and the third to imprisonment 
for life. 

" In the same statutes the restitution of the first 
fruits was decreed, and the payment of a twentieth part of 
the revenues to the crown; lastly, it was enacted that the 
queen's right to the crown should be acknowledged, and it 
Was prohibited to all persons, under pain of prae7nunire-^ 
or high treason, to speak or write against it." — MacGeoghe- 
gan, p. 458. 

The estates of the Earls of Tyrone and Tirconnell, and 
six whole counties in the province of Ulster, were confis- 
cated for the benefit of the crown, without examination or 
trial. These counties were divided between several En- 
glish and Scotch Protestants, under such regulations. » as 
were obviously intended to produce ruin, both to the peo- 
ple and to their religion. Besides the pecuniary fines that 
were inflicted, and the other penalties that were enacted 
against Catholics, it was specifically inserted in the patents 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 179 

that no portion of these lands should be sold, transferred 
or farmed except to and by Protestants exclusively. 

" Persecution was becoming more and more violent 
against Catholics; and new proclamations were issued 
against the bishops, Jesuits and Seminarians. James was as 
tenacious of the title of the head of the church as any of 
his predecessors who had usurped it, to deny it being 
made a capital crime." — MacGeoghegan, p. 563. 

" The cruelties practiced during four hundred years, par- 
ticularly throughout the fifteen years of Elizabeth's reign, 
were sufficient to make the most civilized sink into a state 
of barbarism and ferocity. They (the JEnglish) deny them 
the privilege of the laws, and treat them altogether as 
strangers and enemies, unprotected on the side of jus- 
tice. 

"The denial of the protection of the laAvs to the Irish, was 
productive of the most frightful consequences ; from this 
arose usurpation, rapine, murder, and a violation of all law 
liuman and divine. To kill a mere Irishman, or a wild 
animal, were crimes of equal import. The murderer was 
acquitted by saying, ' the person killed was a mere Irish- 
man, and not of free blood,' consequently the judge pro- 
nounced according to the law, and the criminal was freed. 
Of this, many examples have been extracted from the ar- 
chives in the castle of Dublin, by Davis, who was himself 
an Englishman, But here is a case in which the most in- 
conceivable cruelties are sanctioned by the law against a 
whole nation. Such has been for many centuries the con- 
duct of the English towards the people of Ireland, They 
have the hardened audacity to treat as barbarous, men 
whose only crime h^^s been to defend their religion and 



180 THE IRISH REPUPLIC. 

properties against the criminal attempts of usurpers.'"' — 
Ibid, 585. 

Thanks to providence, the light of the nineteenth century 
expelled the dark clouds of religions bigotry from the 
minds of the liberal party in England. The commercial and 
manufacturing towns of England neutralized the poisonous 
bigotry of the English squires and Irish Orangemen, and the 
Tory lorels of both countries. We may here remark that a 
bigot is a bigot and a Tory a Tory, whether he be an 
Englishman or an Irishman, (an anti-Irishman.) From 
my reading of history, I do verily believe that the Irish 
Orangeman is the most virulent bigot of all! What ex- 
cuse could he offer for denying to his Catholic neighbors 
the protection of the constitution and the laws ? No won- 
der that the fathers and founders of the constitution of the 
United States should be so anxious to guarantee in the 
constitution of the United States religious liberty — the 
liberty of conscience to all mankind forever. Those ven- 
erable patriots, many of whom were able historians and 
jurists, and having before them the sad and deplorable ex- 
ample and sad workings of the hloody Irish penal code., 
wisely provided by the supreme law of the land, that bigots 
in Congress and in the State legislatures should not inflict 
the American people with a penal code. For they knew 
that the few Irish Orangemen then in the United States 
and the Blue Light Federalists, the prototypes of the Na- 
tive Americans and the Know-Nothings, and the bigoted 
Puritans, would revive the witch burnings and blue laws of 
the penal days. 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 181 



THE ANTI-IKISHMAN. 

Air — l^he Irishman. 
" From polar seas to torrid climes, 

Where'er the trace of man is found, 
What common feeling marks our kind, 
And sanctifies each spot of ground ? 
What virtue in the human heart 

The proudest tribute can command ? 
The dearest, purest, holiest, best, 
The lasting love of Fatherland ! 

" Then who's the wretch that basely spurns 

The ties of country, kindred, friends— 
That barters every nobler aim 

For sordid views — for private ends ? 
One slave alone on earth you'll find 

Through Nature's universal span, 
So lost to wirtue — dead to shame, 

The anti-Irish Irishman. 

" Our fields are fertile, rich our floods, 

Our mountains bold, majestic, grand ; 
Our air is baJm, and every breeze 

Wings health around our native land. 
But who despises all her charms, 

And mocks her. gifts where'er he can? 
Why he, the Norman's sneaking slave, 

The anti-Irish Irishman. 

" The Norman — spawn of fraud and guile ! 

Ambitious sought our peaceful shore, 
And, leagued with native guilt, despoiled 

And deluged Erin's fields with gore ! 
Who gave the foe-man footing here ? 

What wretch unholy led her van ? 
The prototype of modern slaves, 

An anti-Irish Irishman ! 

" For ages rapine ruled our plains. 

And slaughter raised his red right hand : 
And virgins shriek'd and roof-trees blaz'd, 

And desolation swept the land ! 
And who would not those ills arrest, 

Or aid the patriotic plan 
To burst his country's galling chains ? 

The anti-Irish Irisbwan I 



182 THE lEISH REPUBLIC. 

" But jiow too great for fetters grown, 

Too proud to bend a slavish knee, 
Loved Erin mocks the tyrant's thrall, 

And firmly vows she shall be free ! 
But mark your treacherous, stealthy knave 

That bends beneath his country's ban ; 
Nor let him dash a nation's hopes. 

The anti-Irish Irishman ! 

" Hurrah ! ' the sun-burst ! ' — once again, 
Our oriflamme is on the gale, 
With shamrock wreaths encircling 

The blazon'd, glorious words ' Kepeal ! ' 
The coward slave that quits his post. 

Let Argus eyes the traitor scan, 
And infamy, eternal, brand 
The anti-Irish Irishman ! " 

— Spirit of the Nation. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

AGITATION FOR A REPEAL OF THE UNION BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN 
AND IRELAND. AGITATION TO ABOLISH TITHES. 

Manufactures — The government destroys the tobacco crop 
in Ireland — Reform — French revolution — Martial law — 
Public meetings suppressed — O'Connell's arrest — Rotten 
boroughs — Wellington — Lord Grey— Coercion — Repeal — 
Courts martial — Tithes — Repeal — Peers — Bribery — 
Chartists — Reform — Public meetings in 1840 — Population 
of Ireland — Reform in 1841 — Monster meetings in 1843 
— The meeting of Olontarf — State trials-r— Bribed judges 
and packed juries — O'Oonnell found guilty — Appeal to 
the House of Lordsr— O'Connell free — The repealers se- 
cede from the British parliament — "Council of three 
hundred " — " Eighty- two club " — Rupture of the repeal- 
ers. 

We have said that Ireland lost everything and gained 
nothing by the acQursed union with England ! We have 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 18^ 

said that the crafty Pitt and his infamous instrument, Ro- 
bert Stewart, better known as Oastlereagh, promised that 
the union would become the grand source of Irish prosper- 
ity. But, alas I it has been the means of inflicting on Ire- 
land all her woes and wrongs. The accursed union annihi- 
lated Irish nationality, manufactures, trade, and commerce, 
while it augmented the burdens of taxation. This stupen- 
dous mountain of taxation fell on the farmers! By the 
odious acts of 59 George III., £4,700,000 were used in pub- 
lic works for " the united kingdom." Yet, out of this enor- 
mous fund only £200,000 were spent in Ireland, while £4- 
500,000 were spent in England. Oh ! just England! This 
is Irish equality with a vengeance ! This is English justice 
to her dear sister Ireland ! Yet Englishiiien tell us tliat we 
are all brethren. That we are all protected by the same 
dear old flag! Another curse of the fatal union, is the 
drain of millions of dollars by the absentee landlords out 
of Ireland to be spent in England, besides the vast sums 
paid to the English government in " high protective tarifi's." 
Thus, Ireland has to pay in tribute to England millions 
without compensation ! As a matter of course all this great 
burden must be borne by the toiling millions! By the an- 
nihilation of Irish manufactures, by unjust laws, the Irish 
are compelled to buy the products of English looms, 
which amounts to about one-sixth of all British exported 
goods ! But to add more to this greed of British avarice, 
(and to the impoverishment of Ireland,) an act of parlia 
ment was passed, in 1833, prohibiting the manufacture of 
beet-root sugar in Ireland. 

In 1833 the farmers in the south of Ireland were exten- 
sively engaged in growing tobacco, which yielded great 



l84 THE iRtSil REPUBLIC. 

profit. But such was the greed, jealousy and rapacity of 
the Englisli government, that an act of parliament was 
passed prohibiting the growth of tobacco in Ireland. And 
the same humane government sent commissioners with 
police through the south of Ireland, who, like so many bar- 
barians, destroyed the tobacco crop ! Ought we wonder 
that Irishmen should be dissatisfied with the government 
of England. The outrages of British rulers had alienated 
the great bulk of the people from the English government. 
The agitation for Catholic emancipation kept alive the 
flame of hostility. The people were educated to know 
their own power. The people saw that all those promises 
made by Pitt were a delusion. The bold agitator, O'Con- 
nell, had promised the people at the Clare election that he 
would raise the great standard of " repeal." The outrages 
of the British aristocracy in England made the people of 
that country dissatisfied with tlie government of the " fa- 
vored few." This aided the great agitator of Ireland to 
co-operate with the reform party in England to humble the 
aristocracy. . : , 

The cry of reform spoiled the digestion of the noble 
lords. lieform hung over them, disturbing their slumbers 
like a nightmare. A reform parliament, the public debt, 
the tithes, rotten corporations, were the great popular ques- 
tions which agitated the ]3ublic mind. The working nqien, 
under their trade unions, agitated for reform of parliament. 
By these means the reforms of 1830, 1831 and 1833, were 
wrung from the despotic and vile aristocracy ! The French 
revolution of 1830 materially added to the intensity of the 
excitement of the public mind. This revolution was hailed 
with delight in Ireland, as it was supposed that it might be 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 185 

a source of some difficulty to England. For O'Connell's 
maxim was, " England's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity." 
This was the golden hour for O'Connell to raise the stand- 
ard of " Repeal." Earl Grey was prime minister, and An- 
glesey Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Lord Anglesey com- 
menced his administration with the viper Stanley as Ijis 
secretary, by proclaiming martial law, so as to put down 
public meetings by the point of the bayonet, his grand 
object being to break down the sptrit of the people by mil- 
itary terror and crush the liberty of the press. 

We will here quote from an eye-witness, the deplorable 
tyranny of Ireland under the oligarchy, and their opposi- 
tion to the freedom of the Press : 

" The precarious state of personal liberty in Ireland, was 
one of the most glaring grievances ; tlie want of a habeas 
CORPUS statute gave absolute power to any government 
which might venture experiments of a despotic nature, 
and enabled the minister to suppress, in the very first in- 
stance, the liberty of the press — the ablest advocate of 
reform — the most powerful auxiliary of freedom. " — ^Bar- 
rington, page 113. 

O'Connell and his friends treated the despotic proclama- 
tion with contempt. They spoke over their coffee, about 
the despotism of England and the repeal of the union. 
By the counsel of Plunket, indictments were found 
against O'Connell, Barrett, Steele, Reynolds, and Red- 
mond. Those state trials created great excitement, and 
the prosecutions failed, and O'Connell gained a decided 
victory over the government. In the new parliament the 
Irish repealers joined the liberals of England for reform. 
O'Connell made an able and powerful speeciij, and the rot- 
24 



186 THE Irish REPtJBLid. 

ten boroughs were abolished. The Lords, these ancient 
enemies of reform, " obstructed " the reform bill for three 
months. But O'Connell had so stirred up the London mob, 
that even with Wellington at their head the " obstructed 
Lords " dare not pass outside of their houses. The Wel- 
lington ministry was compelled, after six months, to resign ! 
This was a noble triumph over the proud and haughty aris- 
tocracy of England. The Grey ministry, in 1831-2, prom- 
ised " additional reform. " But the Irish people gained 
nothing but a " coercion bill. " » 



GHAFIER XV. 

The people of Ireland still kept up the cry of repeal and 
" down with the tithes." This agitated the public mind, 
and the military butchered the unarmed people, which 
only made the tithe system more odious and intolerable. 

The parsons drove the farmers' stock to the pounds, to 
be sold at public auction, but no one would bid for them ; 
they were then shipped over to England, but the English 
people would not bid for them. The people both of Ireland 
and England were opposed to the tithes. 

It is but natural that the toiling millions of both England 
and Ireland should feel unwilling to pay tithes ; when it 
shall be remembered that churchmen of that church, " by 
Taw established," lived in lordly State. That the Arch- 
bishop of Armagh, the primate of Ireland, wrung yearly 
from the working people of Ireland an income of about 
four times as large as the salary of the President of the 
United States ! 



THE IRISH EEPUBLIC. 187 

The parsons then, resorted to the forms and fictions of 
law for the collection of tithes. The x)eople were indicted 
foi* " conspiracj- to defraud." The viper Stanley had addi- 
tional troops sent to Ireland to coerce the people to pay 
the odious and abominable tithes. Attorney General Smith 
sued out " writs of rebellion " and "■ outlawrj'- " to oppress 
the farmers by expensive law-suits, which put the people 
to great expense to defend themselves in the courts at Dub- 
lin. But, notwithstanding all this tyranny, the parsons 
could not, even with the police and red -coats, collect the 
tithes. The parsons, as well as the English government, 
became more and more unpopular. Though the hirelings 
of the ascendency murdered men, women and children, in 
their attempts to collect the iniquitous and abominable 
tithes, they failed to get much money. The people were 
not only loud in their complaints against the government 
for collecting tithes by the point of the bayonet, but for 
the rejections of Catholics and liberal Protestants from sit- 
ting on grand juries — thus making British law, in Ireland, 
a solemn mockery ! 

" The tithe war raged violently this year ; the people 
were becoming more and more indisposed to pay Protest- 
ant rectors, especially in the south of Ireland, where those 
rectors often have no flocks. On the banks of the Slaney, 
on the very border between Wexford and Carlow county, 
and at the foot of the stately Mount Leinster, stands the 
little town of Newtownbarry. Qn the 18th of June, 1831, 
this usually quiet village was the scene of a bloody tithe 
tragedy. The Rev. Mr. McClintock would liave his tithe ; 
and by aid of the police and yeomanry, he had seized the 
crops and goods of several persons in the neighborhood, 



188 THE lEISH REPUBLIC. 

These things were to be auctioned in Newtownbarry mar- 
ket place on the market day. Before that day anony- 
mous written notices were sent to many persons in the 
country, requesting them to come in and oAtencl the sale 
of their neighbors' pigs, beds and kettles. 

Considerable numbers of the people attended in conse- 
quence, but not armed; their object being only to keep 
persons back from bidding at this auction. It was known 
that large .crowds had come in, and that the forced sale 
must almost certainly produce a collision. But the Rev. 
Mr. McOlintock would have his rights. The property 
seized was brought into towm guarded by a large force of 
constabulary, w^ho were to be supported, if needful, by 
another large force of yeomanry. The sale opened ; the 
people pressed forward, and kept away by a show of in- 
timidation, the few who might have been disposed to pur 
chase. At last the police attacked the unarmed multi- 
tudes, were seconded with great alacrity by the yeomanry, 
and very soon thirteen slain men and twenty wounded 
were lying in their blood on the streets of Newtownbarry, 
No person was ever brought to punishment for this slaugh- 
ter. Indeed, it was felt by the Orange party, that the Rev. 
Mr. McClintock had only shown proper spirit in vindicating 
his rights — that this course of intimidation had gone too 
far — and that it was time an example should be made ; 
more moderate persons, however, even of the established 
church, could not but think it unfortunate that ministers 
of religion should so often have to wring their blood- 
stained dues out of the very vitals of parishioners, who 
hate them and all their works. '-^ — Mitchel, page 515. 

Specious and plausible arguraeiit§ we^-e employed \>j the 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 189 

advocates for and against the tithes. Biblical, historical, 
and legal lore — satire, wit, humor, and severe invective 
vi^ere the weapons emploj'^ed by both parties. But the par- 
sons had the courts of law, the police, and red-coats to give 
Aveight and dignity to their arguments. The parsons even 
claimed that Adam was an advocate for the payment of 
tithes. They claimed the " divine right," " invested rights," 
and "legal and constitutional rights," and above all, the 
right of the sword for the collection of their tithes. They 
claimed to have their warrant both from heaven and the 
courts for the collection of tithes, or dues, so called. They 
deemed it high treason not to obey the king and the par- 
sons. But above all, they [deemed it heresy to refuse the 
payment of tithes. Able and eloquent writers and speak- 
ers exhausted every variety of argument on the tithe ques- 
tion, both in prose and verse. From the pulpit and through 
the press, from the bench and bar, in private and public, it 
was the great topic of conversation, the sermon and the 
song. The following humorous emanation from the gifted 
pen of Tom Moore will give the reader an idea of the pop- 
ular indignation against tithes and parsons : 

SONG OF THE DEPAETING SPIRIT OF TITHES. 

" The parting genius is mih sighing senL" — Milton, 

It is o'er, it is o'er, my reign is o'er ; 
I hear a voice, from shcfre to shore, 
From Dunfanaghy to Baltimore, 
And it saith, in sad, parsonic tone. 
Great Tithe and email are dead and gone ! 

Even now I behold your vanishing wings, 
Ye Tenths of all conceivable things, 
Which Adam first, as Poctors deem, 
Bm, in a sort of night'D^are d^eam, 



199 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

A fter the feast of fruit ablior'd — 

First indigestion on record ! 

Ye decimate ducks, ye chosen chicks, 

Ye pigs which, though ye be Catholics, 

Or of Calvin's most select depraved, 

In the church must have your bacon saved ; — 

Ye fields, where Labor counts his sheaves, 

And, whatsoe'er himself believes, 

Must bow to the Establish'd church belief, 

That the tenth is always a Protestant sheaf; — 

Ye calves, of which the man of Heaven 

Takes L-ish tithe, one calf in seven ; 

Ye tenths of rape, hemp, barley, flax, 

Eggs, timber, miUc,fish and bees-wax; 

All things, in short, since earth's creation, 

Doomed, by the church's dispensation. 

To suffer eternal decimation — ' 

Leaving the whole lay tvorld, since then. 

Reduced to nine parts out of ten ; 

Or — as we calculated thefts and arsons — 

Just ten pe^- cent, the worse for parsons ! 

AlaSj and is all this wise device 
For the saving of souls thus gone in a trice ? 
The whole put down in the simplest way. 
By the soul's resolving not to pay ! 
And even the Papists, thankless race, 
"Who have had so much the easiest case- 
To pay for our sermons, doom'd, 'tis true. 
But not condemned to hear them, too — 
(Our holy business being, 'tis known. 
With the ears of their barley, not their own.) 
Even they object to let us pillage. 
By right divine, their tenth of tillage, 
And horror of horrors, even decline 
To find us in sacramental wine ! 

It is o'er, it is o'er, my reign is o'er. 
Ah, never shall rosy rector more, 
Like the shepherds of Israel, idly eat, 
And make of his flock a prey and meat. 
No more shall be his the pastoral sport, 
Of suing his flock in the Bishop's court, 
Through vadotis steps, citation, libel — 
ScriftuTcs g.llj but not the Bible ; 



^HE IRISH REPUBLIC, l9l 

Working the Law's whole apparatus, 
To get at a few pre-doom'd potatoes, 
And summoning all the powers of wig, 
To settle the fraction of a pig ! — 
Till, parson, and all committed deep 
In the case of ' Shepherd versus Sheej),' 
The law usurps the gospel's place, 
And, on Sundays, meeting face to face, 
While plaintiffs fills the preachei-'s station, 
Defendants form the congregation. 

So lives he Mammon's priest, not Heaven's, 

For tenths tlius all at sixes and sevens, .' ■ ■ 

Seeking what parsons love no less 

Than tragic poets — a good distress. 

Instead of studying St. Augustin, 

Gregory Nyass, or old St. Justin, 

(Books fit only to hoard dustin',) 

His reverence stints his evening reading 

To learn'd reports of Tithe proceedings, 

Sipping, the while, that port so ruddy, 

Which formed his only ancient study ; — 

Port so old, you'd swear its tartar 

Was of the age of Justin Martyr, 

And, had he sipp'd of such, no doubt 

His martyrdom would have been — to gout. 

Is all, then, lost ? — ^Alas, too true— 
Ye Tenths beloved, adieu, adieu ! 
My reign is o'er, my reign is o'er — 
Like 6ld ' Thumb's ghost,' I can no more,' 

— Moore. 

The Catholics of Ireland can now rejoice that " the 
tithes" are a thing of the past. It is but just that each 
church should be supported by its own members. The con- 
nection of church and State is now, in Ireland, abolished 
for ever. 

In the midst of this great excitement O'Connell renewed 
the agitation for repeal. Pledged repealers were returned 
in several counties, eight of the O'Connell family among 
the number. Ireland had now forty members pledged for 



192 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

repeal in 1833, notwithstanding the great effort made by 
the Castle party to defeat the repeal party, for even Lord 
Anglesey had -taken the stump, and forgetting the dignity 
of his oflEice, as the representative of Queen Victoria, made 
a tour through Ireland, during the campaign, like a " pot- 
house politician, " and mere petty demagogue, using the 
patronage of the Castle and the government to defeat tlie 
repealers ! 

In 1833, Earl Grey introduced in the British parliament 
his infamous coercion bill, which gave the Lord Lieutenant 
power to suppress public meetings, if he deemed them 
dangerous, and to prosecute the members for a misde- 
meanor. This odious bill compelled all the inhabitants to 
remain in their houses from "sun-set to sun-rise," and 
that no meeting should be held without the consent of the 
Lord Lieutenant. It gave power to the police to enter any 
house by day or by night. That persons could be tried, 
hanged and quartered by a drum-head court martial. The 
writ of habeas corpus was suspended. This odious meas- 
ure caused the downfall of the Whigs. This tyrannical, 
odious and iniquitous system of prosecuting and harassing 
the farmers to compel them to pay tithes, made both the 
parson and the " process server " detestable, even to this 
day. 

Those who were only mere children then, will re- 
member the great excitement of the time, when horns 
resounded from hill to hill to announce the coming of the 
parson, " process-server, " and police to drive the farmers' 
cattle to pound ! They will never regret the downfall of 
the British empire ! Such is the magic power of a people 
struggling for liberty that the viper Lord Stanley, with his 



*HE IRISH REPUBLIC. l9^ 

l-ed-coats, police and martial law, could not collect more 
than twelve thousand pounds a year for the parsons ! 

The poor parsons were thus starving. But the government 
gave them a gift of one million pounds. The government 
and the parsons despaired of collecting the tithes either by 
law or the bayonet. The parliament passed a bill abolish- 
ing one-fourth of the tithes, and making the other three- 
fourths a rent charge on the lands of the oppressed farmers 
to be collected by the landlords and their agents, to be 
paid to the parsons. When the farmer paid his rent the 
landlord or his agent first counted out of the farmer's pile 
the parson's tithes, and then made him pay the rent. Thus 
the parson's tithes was made the first lien on the lands of 
Ireland! Most just and merciful government! Thus, at 
that time, ended the great popular movement for the abol- 
ishment of the iniquitous tithes, which will never be for- 
gotten by the Irish in America, who were eye-witnesses 
to the workings of this odious and oppressive system. 
We refrain from further comments, but hope that the day 
is not far distant when Ireland can say to England, we will 
take care of ourselves. When the glad news will reach us, 
from the other side of the Atlantic, " Ireland is free." God 
grant it ! 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Though O'Connell and his repeal friends aided the En- 
glish and Scotch to gain reform from the aristocracy, yet, 
when it was known, in England, that Ireland wanted 
twenty-five additional members of parliament and an ex- 
25 



194 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

tension of the franchise, it was opposed by the whole of the 
English press and people. This was gratitude. It was 
good enough for the O'Connell party to vote for reform for 
England. But Ireland should have no reform. Ireland 
should be kept in a state of servitude. The glorious friends 
and champions of British freedom would extend no reform 
to Ireland, but that of additional red-coats, police, and 
Stanley's arms acts, and coercion acts, martial laws, the 
gallows, and transportation. This was the only panacea 
that the humanity of the British government had for the 
wrongs of Ireland ! Oh, yes, they armed the northern yeo- 
men, appointed Tory Lord Lieutenants of counties, and 
despotic local magistrates to oppress the people. This was 
reform with a vengeance ! The repeal press had assailed 
the injustice of the government. The Castle party resorted 
to all means for silencing the press. Mr. Barret of the 
Pilot became a victim to British misrule; he was prosecu- 
ted for merely republishing some letters of O'Oonnell's in 
the London True Sun. Barret was defended by O'Connell,. 
who was thus able to make a repeal speech in the court of 
King's Bench. 

Ill 1833, Fergus O'Connor gave notice in the House of 
Commons that all the conditions of the union were ruth- 
lessly violated hy the government of England. And 
O'Connell gave notice that he would at the next session 
introduce a bill for the " repeal of the union, " In 1834, 
the great agitator made a noble effort to unite the Catho- 
lics and Protestants to petition for " repeal. " The gov- 
ernment in the mean-time used the purse, the sword, and 
offices to defeat the repealers. The minister introduced a 
resolution that the union between Great Britain and Ire- 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 195 

land was " forever indissoluble. " Such was the temper of 
the British government in 1834. 

O'Connell now raised the cry of a reform of the House 
of Lords. He wanted to have the members of the House 
of Lords elected from the great body of the Peers of En 
gland, Ireland and Scotland. The aristocracy became 
alarmed and offered O'Connell a judgeship if he would 
keep, silent, which the noble patriot spurned with disdain. 
In 1833 the Duke of Wellington said that O'Connell had 
" more power than any man in England !" In 1838 England 
was distressed by a stupendous financial crisis. This was 
the time to agitate, and O'Connell made the most of the 
opportunity to embarrass the Tory party of England and 
Ireland ! 

In 1840-3 the Chartists Avere prosecuted in England, 
which, with the financial crisis, increased the popular dis- 
content. O'Connell having in vain endeavored to obtain a 
reform bill for Ireland, raised the standard of repeal with 
more vigor in 1840. He held monster meetings in the in- 
terior of Ireland ; this, with the discontented Chartists and 
commercial embarrassments, harrassed the government. 
Stanley was defeated, and O'Connell held a meeting at the 
time-honored "Treaty Stone" of Limerick. Ireland was 
indeed formidable at this time, for her population number- 
ed nearly nine millions of people. 



196 TII-B IRI6H REPUBLIC. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

In 1841 the Irish reform bill was put in operation, and 
O'Oonnell was triumphantly elected Lord Mayor of Dublin. 
iSo England granted this boon in the hour of her difficulty. 

In 1843, O'Oonnell, who was then a Dublin Alderman, 
under the new reform bill, gave notice that he would oifer 
a petition for the repeal of the union ; this alarmed the 
old ascendency party, who had held a monopoly of the 
corporation, under the crown and bayonets of English des- 
potism. This vile ascendency would rather have Ireland a 
mere province, where they could hold a monopoly of the 
offices, than to have Ireland free, and the offices distributed 
among the people, as in America. Indeed, this is one of 
the greatest reasons why we find a party in Ireland so de- 
voted to the English interest. They are vile politicians 
and placemen ! 

It was the practice of the Dublin corporation to peti- 
tion parliament and the monarch on general subjects. 
The " blue boys " did not wish that the old English party 
should be made the medium of repeal agitators. In short, 
to turn the corporation of Dublin into a repeal association, 
they said that they would prefer " revolution, civil war, and 
extermination. " Notwithstanding this fierce opposition by 
the ascendency, O'Oonnell spoke on the memorable 1st of 
March, 1843. On this occasion he delivered one of his best 
speeches. It was the summing up of the great case of Ire- 
land against the tyranny of the British government — its 
vast fraud, perfidy, usurpation, and injustice. Mr. Butt's 
reply was as harmless as it was feeble. O'Oonnell gained 
a decided tmmph, 



THE IRISH BEPUBLIC. lOT 

On this ever-memorable year 1843, O'Connell renewed 
the agitation for repeal. He held " monster meetings " in 
the interior of Ireland, for " repeal, " He denounced the 
goverriment for the great drain of the wealth of Ireland by 
absentee landlords, the grand jury tax, poor laws, and the 
abominable tithes, the corruption and bribery of the gov- 
ernment, the ruin of trade, commerce, and manufactures, 
since the advent of the accursed union ! 

The great meeting of Clontarf was to be the greatest 
meeting ever held in Ireland. This meeting was to be 
held on " Conquer Hill. " The spot is dear to the mem- 
ory of Irishmen, as the sacred soil where Brian drove the 
Danes into the sea. The Peel government was determined 
to suppress this meeting. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 
issued his proclamation on October 7th, 1843, for the sup- 
pression of this meeting. War vessels arrived in Dublin 
with military reinforcements. A war vessel anchored in 
the bay of Clontarf with its guns covering the intended 
place of meeting. A large military force of cavalry, infan- 
try and artillery occupied " Conquer Hill. " In the mean- 
time O'Connell issued his proclamation to the people, an- 
nouncing that the intended meeting would not be held. 
There is no doubt but the Peel government wished for an 
opportunity for the massacre of the unarmed people. The 
time will yet come when England's hirelings will meet 
Irishmen face to face, not unarmed, but with arms in their 
hands to avenge the insult, not only of Clontarf, but the 
vile massacre of Mullaghmast. Irishmen will not then for- 
get the old " treaty stone " of Limerick ! 



198 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

CHAPTER XVIIL 

On Monday the 9th of October, the Lord Lieutenant de- 
termined to arrest O'Oonnell and other leading repealers. 
The government forbid all its employees, even the teachers 
of national schools, from participating in the repeal move- 
ment. Repeal buttons became the rage, which gave great 
oiFense to the government and the ascendency. 

After the arrest of O'Connell, Smith O'Brien became a 
repealer. The State trials were both exciting and interest- 
ing. The humane government would give the prisoners 
but three days to put in an answer. They had recourse to 
the old scheme of " bribed judges and packed juries." For 
this purpose the crown officers abstracted 68 names from 
the jury panel, so as to exclude the Catholics and liberal 
Protestants from sitting on the State trials. The judges 
overruled the motion for amending the panel. And the 
State prisoners were forced to submit to be tried by a 
packed jury ! Such is British law in Ireland ; surely Irish- 
men cannot respect it ! 

The, accusation against the state prisoners was, "a con- 
spiracy to procure an alteration in the laws by intimidation, 
to bring the government and tribunals of the country into 
hatred and contempt, and to tamper with the allegiance of 
the army and others." The jury who tried O'Connell were, 
James Hamilton, Captain Edward Roper, Edward Clark, 
Francis Faulkner, John Croker, Henry Flynn, Henry Thomp- 
son, Anson Floyd, John Rigby, Robert Hanna, William 
Longfield, William Orr. Those men will always be remem- 
bered as vile traitors to their country. Let the finger of 
scorn be pointed towards their memory. The state prison- 



*i:ttE IRISH REPUBLIC. 199 

ers Were tried before this vile jury. Great talent was dis- 
played by the counsel for the defence. The brutal Jud^e 
Pennefather on the 9th of February, 1844, charged the jury. 
He spent two days in making a fulsome speech, which was 
all on the side of the crown. He was both judge and advo- 
cate for the crown. This was a foul stain on British justice, 
if there is such a thing, when an Irishman is on trial before 
a bribed judge and a packed and perjured jury! This vile 
jmy, after this charge, fouiid a verdict of guilty. The 
event was hailed in England, by the London Times, with 
great joy, "That O'Connell was in prison ! ! " On the 30th 
of May, 1844, O'Connell was incarcerated in Richmond 
prison. The greatest excitement pervaded the minds of 
the people, as many thought that war would follow. 

Thus we see that England, at all times, under royalists 
and Puritans, for centuries trampled on the forms and spirit 
of the law whenever she wanted to oppress Ireland. The 
government promoted, fostered and fed the anti-Irish colo- 
nial tyrants, thus dividing the people in order to keep 
them in servitude. 

*' She had proved by the experience of centuries, that 
when she had an object to achieve in Ireland, she had 
never been restrained by the punctilious dictates either of 
honor or humanity, and had never failed to take advantage 
of the feebleness of Ireland, to impose the grievous weight 
of her arbitrary restrictions ; she had, at all periods, sys- 
tematically encouraged the internal dissensions of the peo- 
ple, the better to humble them for the yoke which she had 
always been ready to place upon their country." — Barring- 
ton, page 62. 

On April 15th, 1844, Mr. Whiteside had made a motion, 



200 • ^HE IRISH REPliBLlC** 

in vain, for a new trial. The learned counsel appealed to the 
House of Lords. On this memorable trial before the House 
of Lords, Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst said—" There was no 
disputing the facts ; it was clear from the record that there 
was a fraudulent list ; that the book was made up from that 
list, and'that the panel was made out of that book. It was 
clear, also, that the recorder sent in a list, though not ac- 
cording fo the directions of the statute, to the clerk of the 
peace; what was done with that list is not clear; it was 
not avowed that the recorder's list did not contain these 
names." Lord Denman said that the trial by jurj^ in this 
case was " a mockery, a delusion, and a snare." 

The judges of the House of Lords pronounced this vile 
indictment bad, and O'Connell Was once more free ! 

In 1845 the repealers seceded from the British parlia- 
ment to deliberate on Irish affairs in Conciliation Hall. 
O'Connell determined on calling the " Council of three 
hundred." He formed the « Eighty-two-Club." We will 
give here a comparison of the population of Ireland with 
that of the British colonies, while Ireland, with nearly nine 
million of inhabitants in 1845, had no parliament, yet nine- 
teen British colonies had a domestic parliament, to-wit : 

Lower Canada, population 678,590 ; Upper Canada, pop- 
ulation 486,055 ; New Brunswick, population 156,142 ; No- 
va Scotia and Cape Breton, population 178,237; Prince 
Edward's Island, population 47,034 ; Newfoundland, popu- 
lation 75,094 ; Antigua, population 36,405 ; Barbadoes, pop- 
ulation 122,198; Dominica, population 122,198; Grenada, 
population 18,291 ; Jamaica, population 377,433 ; Montser- 
rat, population 7,119 ; Nevis, population 7,470 ; St. Kitts, 
population 21,578 ; St. Vincent, population 27,248 ; Tobago, 



THE IKISH REPUBLIC. 201 

population 13,208 ; Tortola, population 8,500 ; Anguilla, 
population 2,934 ; Bahamas, population 25,244 ; Bermudas, 
population 9,930. This was the population of those colo- 
nies in 1820. Thus, while the people of Ireland, with their 
millions of inhabitants and millions of dollars, for to sup- 
port the English government, are denied the right of a 
domestic parliament, yet the above colonies are allowed a 
parliament each, with two houses to transact business. 
Will Ireland submit to this? No; she will have separation 
or blood ! 

The following picture of the loss of the Irish Parliament 
is given by O'Connell : " There is, however, a more press- 
ing view of this danger, which arises when we behold the 
present state of Ireland. She has no parliament of her 
own ; there is little of interest, and less of sympathy, for 
the complaints of Ireland in that of England. What griev- 
ance has the imperial parliament redressed? — What incon- 
venience has it remedied? Let those who can, inform us. 
when have our prayers been listened to ? The very remote- 
ness of that parliameQit renders the sound of our com- 
plaints weak and inefficient. " — O'Connell's speeches, vol. 
2, pp. 22-3. 

Unfortunately a rupture between O'Connell and his 
friends ended the repeal agitation, and O'Connell died 
broken hearted at Genoa. But the spirit of liberty did 
not die. We have a new generation of ^'Irishmen, who 
have seen service in the United States, who will yet hum- 
ble the pride of the English government. 

I will here quote the words of one of Ireland's gifted 

sons. Dr. Cahill : " And when the returning tide rises and 

the breeze freshens, the old noble ship shall again set her 
26 



202 THE IRISH REI*UBLIC!. 

sails before the wind, and changing her name from tepeal 
to National Equality, her fearless crew shall again shout 
for freedom, and, with some future O'Connell at the helm, 
she will, and shall again face the storm, and ride the swol- 
len flood in pride and triumph." 

Irishmen vfill not be satisfied with repeal ; they want 
their ancient rights. We must and shall have nationality 
— We must haye the green flag flaunting in triumph over 
every hill top in Ireland. Then we will have separation. 
Then can Emmett's epitaph be written. This should be 
the aim and object of every true Irishman. We can ac- 
complish this by union, by opposing the English interest 
on this continent. And when the hour comes, which come 
it will, when England is involved in war, then to come 
down on her and whip her. The Lord will give an oppor- 
tunity! 

We make the following quotation from our gifted coun- 
tryman, Dr.. Gahill : 

" How long, Lord, wilt thou hold thy omnipotent scourge 
over Ireland, the most faithful nation of all the kingdoms 
that possess the Divine revelations from heaven? But till 
Providence is pleased to staunch the flowing blood of Ire- 
land, and to heal her wounds, we, her persecuted sons, are 
bound to raise the cry of horror against our relentless op- 
pressors ; to keep up through each coming year and each 
century, the watchword of our sires for freedom, till the 
happy day of our deliverance. It is glorious to struggle 
for the redemption of one's country ; it is base, tamely to 
submit to a tyrant's frown — liberty, and then death, is pref- 
erable to slavery and life. Oh ! eternal liberty— inheritance 
of the soul ! " 



THE IRISH BEPUBLIC. 203 

Let every Irishman adopt this noble spirit of liberty, and 
Ireland will be free ! 

IKI.SH WAE-SONG— A. D. 1843. 
AiK — Minstrel Boy. 
I. 
"Bright sun, before whose glorious ray, 
Our Pagan fathers bent the knee ; . 

Whose pillar-altars yet can say, 
When time was young our sires were free — 
Who saw'st our latter days' decree — 
Our matron's tears — our patriot's gore ; 

We swear before high Heaven and thee, 
The Saxon holds us slaves no more ! 

II. 

" Our sun-burst on the Koman foe 

Flashed vengeance once in foreign fields — 
On Clontarf 's plain lay scathed low 
What power the sea-kings fierce could wield ! 
Benburb might say whose cloven shield, 
'Neath bloody hoofs was trampled o'er ; 

And, by these memories high, we yield 
Our limbs to Saxon chains no more ! 
III. 
" The darscach wild, whose trembling string 
Had long the 'song of sorrow spoke,' 
Shall bid the wild Bosg-Catha sing 
The curse and crime of Saxon yoke. 
And, by each heart his bondage broke — 
Each exile's sigh on distant shore- 
Each martyr 'neath the headsman's stroke — 
TJie Saxon holds us slaves no more ! 
IV. 
"Send the loud war-cry o'er the main — 
Your sun-burst to the breezes spread ! 
That slogan rends the heaven in twain — 
The earth reels back beneath your tread ! 
Ye Saxon despots, hear, and dread — 
The march o'er patriot hearts is o'er — 

That shout hath told — that tramp hath said, 
Our country's sons are slaves no more !" 

— Spirit of the Nation. 



304 THE IRISH BEPUBLIC. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE ABSENTEE LANDLORDS OF IRELAND. THE WEALTH OF IRELAND 

SPENT IN ENGLAND. 

Whiteboys—Tithes — Proctors — Despotic landlords — En- 
glish policy — Oatliolic emancipation — Ej ectments— Tithes 
— Famine — Tenants at will — Tithes commuted — Surplus 
population — Encumbered estates — Devon commission. 

The tyrannical landlords of Ireland, who hold their vast 
estates by no better title than that of conquest, plunder, 
murder, and wholesale confiscation, whether they derive 
their pretended title from Normans, Williamites, or Crom- 
wellians, they look on the English interest in Ireland as 
paramount to that of Ireland. They look to England for 
protection, freedom, greatness, prosperity and happiness. 
They have always preferred their darling monopoly to the 
welfare of their country. They call themselves English 
gentry. They claim that their interests are hostile to what 
they call, in derision, the old savage Irish. Their ancestors 
took special pride in calling themselves " English gentle- 
men lorn here.'''' Even as far back as 1690, the despotic 
landlords had doubled their "rent-rolls." They put the 
screws on the farmers, so as to get the greater part of the 
profits of the farms. For this purpose they let their lands 
for a short term of years, so that they could raise the rents 
at pleasure, and have the farmers completely under their 
control. If the tenants did not submit to their dictation, 
they could throw them out on the wayside. Those despots 
were careful not to allow their tenants anything for the la- 
bor and money expended in improving the farms. 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 205 

" I should imagine that the permanent absentees ought 
to see the policy (if no better motive can influence them) 
of appropriating liberally some part of these splendid rev- 
enues which they draw from this country — which pay no 
land-tax or poor rate, and of which not a shilling is ex- 
pended in this country ! Is it not high time for these per- 
manent absentees to offer some assistance, originating from 
themselves, out of their private purses, towards improving 
and amelioxating the condition of the lower orders of the 
peasantry upon their great domains, and rendering their 
lives more comfortable. * * But I say that the perma- 
nent absentees ought to know that it is their interest to 
contribute everything in their power, and within the sphere 
of their extensive influence, towards the improvement of 
the country from whence they derive such ample revenue 
and solid benefits. Instead of doing so, how do many of 
them act? They often depute their manager upon the 
grand jury of the county. 

•■'This manager gets his jobs done without question or in- 
terruption ; his roads, and his bridges, and his park walls — 
all are conceded. 

" For my part, I am wholly at a loss to conceive how 
those permanent absentees can reconcile it to their feel- 
ings or their interest, to remain silent spectators of such a 
state of things, or how they can forbear to raise their voices 
in behalf of their unhappy country, and attempt to open the 
eyes of our English neighhors^ who^ generally speahing, 
Icnow about as much of the Irish as they do of the Hin- 
doos. Does a visitor come to Ireland to compile a book of 
travels ? What is his course ? He is handed about from 
one country gentleman to another, all interested in con- 



206 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

cealing from him the true state of the country ; he passes 
from squire to squire, each rivaling the other in entertain- 
ing their guest — all husy hi pouring falsehoods into his 
ears touching the distracted state of the country and the 
vicious hahits of the people. 

" Such is the crusade of information while the English 
traveler sets forward, and he returns to his country with 
all his unfort'itnate prejudices doubled a7id confirmed, in 
a hind of moral despair of the welfare of such a wielded 
race, having made up his mind that nothing ought to he 
done for this lawless and degraded country. And, indeed, 
such an extravagant excess have those intolerant opinions 
of the state of Ireland attained, that I shall not be surprised 
to hear of some political projector coming forward and 
renovating the obsolete ignorance and the prejudices of a 
Harrington, who, in his ' Oceana, ' calls the people of Ire- 
land an untameable race, declaring that they ought to be 
exterminated, and the country colonized by Jews; that 
thus the state of this island would be bettered, and the 
commerce of England extended and improved. " — O'Con- 
nell's speeches, vol. 1, pp. 433-4. 

This discouraged industry and put the tenants under the 
absolute power and despotism of the landlords. The vile 
tyranny of the landlords drove the people to seek justice 
in midnight assemblies. The following is from John Mitchel : 

" We have seen by the statements of Mr. J. Hely Hutch- 
inson, that in the last year of King George II., ' the lower 
classes of the people wanted food.' The financial distress 
soon made matters still worse, and almost immediately af- 
ter the accession of the new king, the whole island began 
to be startled by formidable rumors of disturbances and 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. • 207 

tumults in the South. The immediate cause of the first 
breaking out of these disorders was that many landlords, 
in Munster, began to inclose commons, on which their rack- 
rented tenants had, up to that time, enjoyed the right of 
commonage as some compensation for the extreme severity 
of the terms on which they held their farms. The enclos- 
ure of these commons took away from them the only means 
they had of lightening their burden and making their hard 
tenure supportable. In Waterford, in Cork, and in Tippe- 
rary, angry crowds assembled, tore down the inclosures, 
and sometimes maltreated the workmen employed in put- 
ting them up; The aggrieved peasantry soon combined 
their operations, associated together by secret oaths, and 
these confederates began to be known as Whiteboys. A 
second cause for . the discontents which soon swelled the 
society of Whiteboys, was the cruel exactions of the tithe 
proctors, persons who farmed the tithes of a parish rector, 
and screwed the utmost farthing out of the parishioners, 
often selling out their crops, their stock, even their beds, 
to make up the subsidy for clergymen whose ministrations 
they never attended. Resistance, therefore, to tithes, and 
the occasional amputation of a tithe proctor's ears, formed 
a large part of the proceedings of the Whiteboys." — Mitchel, 
page 89. • 

The farmers had no protection from the government, 
for the landlords held all the offices under the so-called Irish 
government, the farmers having no rights which the land- 
lords were bound to respect — the farmers were compelled to 
pay their part of the burdens of the English government. 
This, with the payment of tithes and church-rates compel- 
led the people to fall back on the law of nature for a re- 



208 THE IJRISH REPtfBlilC. 

dress of grievances, and hence the Whiteboys and Rock- 
ites banded together to protect the farmers in the south of 
Ireland from the despotism of the landlords, agents and 
bailiffs. 

" The bitter distress of the people of Munster, occasion- 
ed by rack-rents, by the merciless exaction of the estab- 
lished clergy and their tithe-proctors, and by the inclosure 
of commons, had gone on increasing and growing more in- 
tense from the year 1760, until despair and misery drove 
the people into secret associations, and in 1762, as we have 
seen', the Whiteboys had in some places broken out into 
unconnected riots to pull down the fences that inclosed 
their commons, or to resist the collection of church-rates. 
These disturbances were greatly exaggerated in the reports 
made to the government by the neighboring Protestant 
jDroprietors, squires of the Cromv/ellian blood, . who repre- 
sented that wretched Jacquerie as nothing less than a 
Popish rebellion, instigated by France, supported by French 
money, and designed to bring in the Pretender." — Mitchel, 
page 99. 

In short, all those local disturbances in Ireland can be 
traced to the despotism of the Irish landlords and the tithe- 
hunters. Even the Attorney General, Fitzgibbon, told the 
government that the tenants were so ground as not to be 
able to pay their rents. 

"There were indeed local disturbances, as in the first days 
of Whiteboyism, provoked solely by the tithe -devouring 
clergymen and by the intolerable oppressions of the land- 
lords ; but in no way partaking of an insurrectionary or- 
ganization, nor directed to revolutionary ends. Mr. Fitz- 
gibbon, then Attorney General, told parliament some mar- 



THE IRISH REPtlBLlC. 209 

Vellous tales. He blamed the landlords as the chief cause 
of the disturbances ; and said that he knew that the un- 
happy tenantry were ground to powder by relentless land- 
lords. He knew that far from being able to give the cler- 
gy their just dues, they had not food or raiment for them- 
selves ; the landlords grasped the whole, and sorry was he 
to add, that not satisfied with the present extortion, some 
landlords had been so base as to instigate the insurgents to 
rob the clergy of their tithes, not in order to alleviate the 
distresses of the tenantry, but that they might add the 
clergy's share to the cruel rack-rents already paid. It 
would require the utmost ability of parliament to come to 
the root of these evils." — Mitchel, p. 178. 

After the passage of the Catholic emancipation act, the 
tyrannical landlords, that vile agency of the British gov- 
ernment, were so exasperated against the farmers for vot- 
ing for O'Connell, that they " broke their leases, " when 
they had an opportunity, and drove them for the rent. 
The landlords would ask the farmers, who had voted for 
O'Connell, " did O'Connell give you the rent?" The op- 
pression of the farmers about this time showed the wanton 
despotism of the rack-renting landlords, their agents, and 
bailiffs. Indeed, when any measure is carried against the 
government, the cry is raised in England of the alarming 
crime in Ireland, and the English government sends ad- 
ditional troops into the country, the better to oppress the 
people, the habeas corpus act is suspended, 'and martial 
law inaugurated, together with the employment of spies, 
castlehacks, and letter spies ! 

" Landlords were refusing to make new leases of farms, 
and were breaking the existing leases where they could, 
27 



210 THE IRISH REPtJBLIO. 

having no longer the motive for rearing up a small free- 
hold population for the hustings. The chairman for the 
quarter-sessions, and the sheriffs and bailiffs, were busy 
with their ejectments ; and pauperism began extensively 
to prevail. 

"The seasons, indeed, had been for some time rather 
favorable, and tjie grain and cattle were abundant; but 
the British system had now been so well established in our 
island, that all this wealth of bounteous nature flowed off 
instantly to England, and the prices of it also. All went 
the same Avay. The export of agricultural produce to Eng- 
land out of Ireland, had grown so enormous within the 
past few years, that it had been judged expedient in 1826, 
to place that trade on the footing of a coasting trade, in 
other words, no custom-house accounts were to be kept of 
it; and the amotint of it was concealed for many j^ears. 
In that year, 1826, however, the exports to England had 
been to the value of almost eight millions in corn and 
cattle. It was but small benefit to the Irisli people to have 
favorable seasons and plenteous harvests ; their wealth not 
only made itself wings and flew to England, but as tenant- 
cy-at-will novv^ became tlte fashion^ landlords increased 
rents in proportion to increased produce ; and then went 
to England- — the country of political action and fashionable 
life, to spend those improved rents. " — Mitchel, p. 511. 
' The popular indignation of the people of Ireland caused 
by the oppression of the tithe hunters became so alarming, 
that the government was now determined to do something 
to pacify the people by a show of justice ; but in reality 
they did not mean that the rich parsons should be de- 
prived of their tithes — their study being the more effectu- 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 211 

ally to secure to the parson his tithes. The foiloAving is 
Irom John Mitchel : 

" Throughout the parliamentary discussions on these ques- 
tions, there does not appear to have been the slightest in- 
tention on the part of either party to relieve Ireland from 
the burden of the established church; all their anxiety 
was how to ins^ure to the clergy their income out of the 
pockets of the people in some way which it would be im- 
possible to resist or evade. On the other hand, O'Gonnell 
declared in parliament, ' the Irish people are determined 
to get rid of the tithes, and get rid of them they will. ' '^ — 
Mitchel, p. 516. 

The absentee landlords now had completed their system 
of draining Ireland by the system of rack-rents, and by 
spending their vast incomes in foreign lands. They want- 
ed their rents, but they did not want what they called 
the " surplus " population. And we maj'' here remark that 
those colonial task-masters and their ancestors most ruth- 
lessly exterminpvted or oppressed the people of Ireland by 
either death or plunder. In the days of the task-masters 
and tyrants of the pale, for a mere Irishman to have prop- 
erty, generally proved his ruin. Now, in modern times, 
when society has invented new names for hideous crimes, 
the Irish are robbed under the milder name of rents : 

"The Irish who have offended, live they ever so honest 
afterwards, if they grow into wealth, are sure to be cut off 
by one indirect way or other. In one of her Majesty's civil 
shires there lived an Irishman peaceably and quietly as a 
good subject, many years together, whereby he grew into 
great wealth ; which his landlord thirsting after, entered 
into practice with the sheriff of the shire to despatch this 



213 THE IRISH EEPUBLIC. 

simple man and divide his goods between them. Where- 
upon they sent one of his own servants for him, and he 
coming with him, they presently tooh the man and Jianged 
Mm; and, keeping the master a prisoner, they went im- 
mediately to his dwelling and shared his substance, which 
was of great value, between them, turning his wife and 
many children to begging. After they had kept him (the 
master) fast for a season with the sheriff, they carried him 
to the Castle of Dublin, where he lay bye the space of 
two or three terms; and he having no matter of guilt 
against him whereupon to be tried by the law, they, \)j 
their credit and countenance, being both English gentle- 
men, and he who was the landlord the chiefest man in the 
shire, informed the lord deputy so hardly of him, as that 
without indictment or trial they executed him, to the great 
scandal of her Majesty's estate, and the impeachment of 
her laws." 

" But, notwithstanding statistics, the notorious truth was, 
that England was becoming always richer, and her people 
more luxurious in the style of living, while Ireland was 
fast sinking into destitution. The Irish rents spent by ab- 
sentee proprietors now amounted to more than four mil- 
lions. Manufactures in Ireland, (with the simple excep- 
tion of linen,) no longer existed. Extermination of tenant- 
ry, (or as the people were now always termed — surplus pop- 
ulation,) had increased to a dreadful extent; and those who 
had means to emigrate were flying from the country in 
wild terror. A writer in Blackwood's magazine for Janu- 
ary, 1833 — the writer being no other than Sir Archibald 
Alison — states that the emigration in 1831 from Ireland 
amounted to eighteen thousand. The writer adds : " No rea^ 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 213 

son can be assigned why it should not be one hundred and 
eighty thousand ! From this time the leading idea of En- 
glish statesmen and economists was to devise some way of 
getting rid of the surplus people." — Mitchel, p, 518. 

Hence the government devised every plan for getting 
rid of the population, by transportation to foreign lands or 
by murdering them by famine — famine, in Ireland, is one 
of the British institutions of the country. Yet Ireland had 
to pay for the extravagance of the English government, 
even for the money which Pitt used to steal away the Par- 
liament and Irish nationality. The landlords would do 
nothing to relieve the distress of the farmers, during the 
direful famine of 1846, 7, 8, 9. They would not abate 
the rents, but put on the screws to grind the people, who 
were out of employment in many parts of the country. 
The Dublin Evening Mail says : — " There is not a laborer 
employed in the county, (Limerick,) except on public 
works ; and there is every prospect of the lands remaining 
untilled and unsown for the next year." 

Had the avaricious landlords relieved the tenants by a 
judicious system of raising and falling the rents according 
as the tenants could pay, the people would not have suffered 
by famine, in a land of bounteous harvests, but they- ex- 
acted their pound of flesh and the last drop of blood ! The 
consequence was, that thousands of farms were laid waste. 
The lands brought no rent, and thousands of the aristocracy 
lost their estates under the encumbered estate law, passed 
in 1849. Thus providence punished those merciless tyrants, 
who would not do justice to the farmers, but ground them 
to powder. The ancestors of those tyrants wanted to send 
the old Irish to " hell or to Connaught ; " their offspring 



214 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

wanted to send them to New Zealand, under the infamous 
Devon commission ! Cromwell made use of the term, " to 
hell or to Connaught," because he was so exasperated at 
the valor of the brave people of that province, whom he 
could not conquer. Hence his indignation. 

" There has now been laid before the reader a complete 
sketch, at least in outline, of the British famine policj^ — 
expectation of government spoon-feeding at the point of 
police bayonets — shaking the farmers loose from their 
lands, employing them for a time on strictly useless public 
works — then disgorging them in crowds of one hundred 
thousand at a time, to beg, or rob, or perish — then, out-door 
relief, administered in quantities altogether infinitesimal in 
proportion to the need — then that universal ejectment, the 
quarter-acre law — then the corruption of the middle class, 
by holding out the prize of ten thousand new government 
situations — then the vagrancy act, to make criminals of 
all houseless wanderers — then the voluntary emigration 
schemes — then the omnipresent police, hanging like a 
cloud over the houses of all suspected persons — that is, all 
persons who still kept a house over their heads — -then the 
quarantine regulations, and increased fare for deck passen- 
gers to England, thus debarring the doomed race from all 
escape at that side, and leaving them the sole alternative, 
America or the grave." — Mitchel, page 573. 

The people complained loudly of the injustice of the 
landlords, agents and bailiifs, who ground down the people 
by rack-rents, so that the aristocratic absentees could live 
in splendor in London. These complaints were construed 
by the government as resistance to the laws. The cry of 
atrocious crime in Ireland was raised by the English press. 



'THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 21 S 

irelatid was cursed by the suspension of the habeas corpus 
act; the enactment of arms acts and coercion acts. Ire- 
land asked for bread but got a serpent. The following is 
from John Mitchel : 

" New regiments were poured into Ireland, of course ; 
and Dublin held an army of ten thousand men, infantry, 
cavalry, artillery, and engineers. The barracks accomoda- 
tion being insufficient, many large buildings were taken 
as temporary barracks ; the deserted palaces of the Irish 
aristocracy — as Aldborough House on the north-east, the 
deserted halls of manufactures and trades in ' The Liberty ' 
and the Linen Hall, were occupied by detachments. The 
Bank of Ireland — our old Parliament House — had cannon 
mounted over the entablatures of its stately Ionic colon- 
nades ; and the vast and splendid Custom Houses, not be- 
ing novv^ needed for trad«, (©ur imports being all from the 
'sister country,' and our exports all to the same,) was 
quite commodious as barracks and arsenal. The quiet 
quadrangles of Trinity College were the scene of daily 
parades ; and the loyal board of that institution gave up 
the wing which commands Westmoreland street, College 
street, and Dame street, to be occupied by troops-. Superb 
squadrons of hussars, of lancers, and of dragoons, rode con- 
tinually through and around the city ; infantry practiced 
platoon-firing in the squares ; heavy guns, strongly guard- 
ed, were forever rolling along the pavement; and parties 
of horse artillery showed all mankind how quickly and 
dexterously they could wheel and aim, and load and fire at 
the crossings of the streets. These military demonstra- 
tions, and the courts of 'law,' constituted the open and 
avowed powers and agencies of the ' * - — ~ ' But there 



216 ^ME IRISH REPUBLIC^ 

was a secret and subterranean macllinei-yi The editor of 
the World was now on full pay, and on terms of close inti- 
macy at the Castle and vice regal Lodge. His paper was 
gratuitously furnished to all hotels and public houses by 
means of secret service money. Dublin swarmed with 
detectives ; they went at night to get their instructions at 
the Castle, from Colonel Brown, head of the police depart- 
ment."--Mitchel, p. 580. 

This is a fair picture of landlords and English misrule in 
Ireland. 

As we have already said, the sole policy of the land- 
lords has been to grind down the farmers by raising the 
rents. If the farmers were making money by their indus- 
try and skill, their avaricious landlord raised the rents ! 
Were it not for the greedy and cruel landlords and packed 
juries and .bribed judges, Ireland^ would be free. The land- 
lords are the vile tools of the crafty English government. 
They are indeed the curse of Ireland. The absentee land- 
lords and their agents and bailiffs control the judges, sher- 
iffs and juries and justices of the peace of Ireland. Take 
this power from the absentees and Ireland will be free. 
No wonder that O'Connell should condemn this system of 
despotism — and strike at the power of the landlords. Let 
this be the aim and object of Irishmen at home and abroad. 
Let us, when an opportunity occurs, abolish this vile sys- 
tem of landlordism in Ireland. Let us sever the link 
which binds Ireland to England. Let us watch and pray, 
and providence in due time will give us an opportunity to 
overtlirow the power of England in Ireland. 

The landlords of Ireland have no other title to the es- 
tates than that of possession. The rightful owners can, if 



ME lElSH REPUBLIC. Sit 

able, retake their property from these usurpers -and tyrants. 
It will not do to compromise with those servile tools of 
British despotism. We must strike for the freedom and in- 
dependence of Ireland. Then will come the great year of 
jubilee, when every man gets his own. The Williamite 
and Cromwellian usurpers must yield up their ill-gotten 
possessions to the rightful owners ! 



CHAPTER XX. 

tenants' rights, who feeds ENGLAND. THE DESPOTISM OF THE 
LANDLORDS OP IRELAND. 

England's prosperity has proved the downfall of Ireland — 
Concessions of 1782 — Prosperity of Ireland under a local 
parliament — Pitt's promises violated — The traitor Castle- 
reagh — Ruin of Irish commerce and manufactures — Tax- 
ation — Workingmen out of employment — The Irish com- 
pelled to emigrate — Absentees — Agents — Cruel landlords 
— Ireland a grazing farm for England — Tithes — Church- 
rates — Tyrannical landlords — Orangemen— Persecution 
— The press — Irishmen in the English army and navy- 
Irish representatives in the British parliament — Meetings 
dispersed — Landlords protected by the government — Pe- 
nal colonies — Secret societies — Tariff — The ruin of Irish 
manufactures — Irish woolen manufactures destroyed — 
Milesians and Normans owned nineteen-twentieths of the 
lands of Ireland before the act of settlement — Irish beef 
— Ormond — King William — Queen Anne — Penal laws — 
Ireland forced to give her food for the products of En- 
glish looms — Volunteers of 1782 — Free trade — The union 
— Famine — Loss of the Irish parliament — Agitation for 
the repeal of the union — O'Connell — Repeal agitation in 
1843-4 — Irish produce— National debt of England — En- 
gland has not food for three months — Famine — Tyranny 
of Lord Russell — Irish farmers ruined — British soldiers 
take away Irish crops to England — Midnight legislation 
28 



218 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

— But one" fourth of Ireland under cultivation — Landlords 
- — Farmers were not paid for tlieir improvements — Re- 
mains of the feudal system— The justice of revenge — 
Houses pulled down — Tobacco crop. 

It has been said by the immortal O'Oonnell, that Eng- 
land's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity ; and that the pros 
perity of England gives strength to the anti-Irish party. 
While the British lion terrified the nations of the earth, 
the contemptible, slanderous and malignant Orange faction 
oppressed the people of Ireland. In the days of British 
prosperity the columns of the British press circulated in 
the vilest manner the most dastardly lies, foul misrepre- 
sentations and gross calumnies against the people of Ire- 
land. In 1782, when the combined hostile fleets were 
masters of the British channel — when invasion was threat- 
ened, the Irish, after years of division, discord, religious 
rancor, distrust, jealousy, bigotry, and persecution, rallied 
around the standard of the immortal Grattan, whose epi- 
taph is written in the hearts of his countrymen, and ob- 
tained concessions from proud and perfidious Albion ! 
From 1782 to 1801, under a free parliament, Ireland flour- 
ished in importance and in wealth, her manufactures flour- 
ished, which provoked the jealousy, avarice, and national 
bigotry of Pitt and his minions, who jDlanned the accursed 
union. For this purpose he played ofi" Catholic against 
Protestant — he promised the people of Ireland equal rights 
before the law — that Ireland would share the same pros- 
perity as England and Scotland. That no other oath would 
be required of the Catholics but the oath of allegiance-7- 
that the three kingdoms would be united as one nation. 
That the wealth, power and prosperity of the one would be 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 219 

the wealth, power and prosperity of the other. That the 
Catholics would get the full benefit of the " treaty of Lim- 
erick ! " Pitt found, as before mentioned, a most willing 
and subtle instrument in the traitor Oastlereagh, These 
vile, unprincipled, dishonest, perfidious and mean politici- 
ans, by bribery and villany, by trafficking the ermine of the 
judge; the miter of the bishop; by the vile corruption of 
the fountain of justice and the sanctuary of religion; by 
putting Englishmen on the King's bench; by returning 
Englishmen and Scotchmen from the " rotten boroughs, '"' 
they stole away the parliament from College Green. And 
Ireland irom being a proud nation, became a jjrovince. 
Manufactures and trade decayed ; artificers starved ; mer- 
chants became bankrupt; credit and commerce were anni- 
hilated, and taxation increased. Ireland blessed v\rith a 
fertile soil and traversed by navigable rivers ; her many 
commodious harbors situated by nature for commerce with 
the nations of the earth, yet her people suffered from un- 
just laws, for since the union nine-tenths of the working- 
men were out of employment. They are either compelled 
to cultivate a small patch of ground at an exorbitant rent, 
or to go annually to England to harvest — Irish factories 
being demolished at home by bad laws. The country was 
drained of her resources by absentees. Their vile and op- 
pressive agents get a per centage for collecting rents, and 
for this reason they sq^ueeze to death the poor farmers. 
Industry is not encouraged, and indulgence for misfortune 
never finds an emotion in the cold bosoms of the hard- 
hearted landlords or their vile and avaricious agents. 
Those mean oppressors and tyrannical despots heeded not 
the complaints of the tenants. They wanted funds for the 



220 TH.E' IRKH: REPUBLIC. 

Ijrodigal absentee landlords, to spend in England. Besides, 
they wanted to get rich themselves by extortion and tyr- 
anny. 

Thus, the wealth and produce of Ireland i.s squandered 
by absentees in dissipation in England. If this was spent 
at home, Ireland would be prosperous. Had her soil been 
properly cultivated and agriculture encouraged, the poor 
would not be driven to excess, and the perpetration of 
crime and agrarian murders, in self defence, would be less 
frequent. 

But alas! Ireland has been oppressed by mean and 
avaricious rack-renters, by tithes, (for the collection of 
which the local magistrates could issue a warrant to col- 
lect the growing crops) church-rates, poor-rates, and a vile 
host of greedy, avaricious and tyrannical landlords ! 

Instead of giving the Catholics equal rights and justice, 
as promised by Pitt, the English government encouraged 
the ascendency party— they promoted Orange judges, 
Orange grand juries, and Orange monopolies, as well as 
Orange sheriffs. Men who had neither eloquence, talent, 
patriotism or knowledge have been appointed to fill the 
highest stations, merely for their bigotry, fanaticism and 
their persecution of the people. Ireland, though possess- 
ing the richest soil and finest and greenest land in the 
world, has suff"ered from poverty and miserj'-, in conse- 
quence of English barbarism ! What has Ireland got from 
England in lieu of her parliament ? She has got Orange 
riots, Orange officials — the press trampled upon and prose- 
cuted by bribed and perjured judges and attorneys-general, 
sherifi's and packed juries, for merely criticising the con- 
duct of public men. She has got a suspension of the ha- 



THE miSH REPUBLIC. * 321 

beas corpus act. vShe has got insurrection bills — stipen- 
diary magistrates and armed police ! 

" The British parliament might as well pass a perpetual 
coercion act for Ireland at once, and take away altogether 
the writ of habeas corpus ; but such a measure as this 
would be supposed to be too abhorrent to the si)irit of the 
British constitution. The coercion acts, therefore, are all 
proposed for a limited time, and hope is regularly express- 
ed by the member of the government who introduces one 
of them, that the time is approaching when these 'excep 
tional ' measures will be no longer needful to the good 
government and well being of Ireland."— Mitchel, p. 517. 

This accursed union was a mere delusion. For though 
the Irish furnished three-fourths of the army and navy — out 
of an army of 100,000 seamen, which England had, in 1800, 
70,000 were Irishmen — yet the Catholics were excluded 
from every office of trust, honor, and emolument ! Ireland 
got but one hundred representatives in the British parlia- 
ment, while England, Wales and Scotland had 558, which 
left Ireland in a very deplorable minority under the hoof 
of an English parliament. Indeed, England violated every 
promise and treaty, made in the hour of her weakness, 
whenever it suited her interest, in the hour of her pride 
and power! Again, we say that Irishmen were doomed 
to perpetual exclusion in their native land, as alien ene- 
mies in the land of their forefathers. Peaceable meetings 
were dispersed by the bayonet, and it was made penal to 
hold meetings in the open air. 

The English government never listened to the complaints 
of Ireland, in the hour of prosperity ; never yielded any- 
thing but with bad grace, either through fear or policy 1 



222 ' THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

While the great Napoleon was triumphant in Europe, the 
British Cabinet conciliated Ireland; but after the fall of 
the great man, oppression was resumed. While the eagles 
of the great captain triumphed over the nations of Europe, 
the Irish farmers got high prices for their produce ; but af- 
ter 1815 prices fell, but the greedy landlords and their op 
pressive agents did not lower the rents ; nor did the parson 
abate his tithes or church-rates. Taxation even increased. 
This system ground down the poor hard working agricul- 
tural classes, tilling the country with distress ! They com- 
plained to the government in vain. For be it known to 
the world that when England was prosperous and her 
armies victorious she protects the hard-hearted and bigoted 
Irish landlords. The avaricious and exterminating Tory 
landlords are the favorites of the castle — they are the 
main strength of the anti-Irish faction, who by transporta- 
tion and extermination have banished the people of Ireland, 
in great multitudes, to the four winds of heaven. Oh ! 
how many of the noble Irish have been sent to penal colo- 
nies by the despotism and tyranny of the merciless and 
despotic landlords. 

This despotism has been the cause of the various secret 
societies in Ireland, for as we have shown, the Irish had no 
other redress but that of revenge ! " Revenge on a tyrant 
is sweetest of all !" 

In the hour of English security from foreign trouble, 
when she is at peace with the world, on the least provoca- 
tion, she proclaims martial law — the usual and darling 
remedy for the pacification of Ireland! The counties of 
Tipperary, Clare and Limerick have often been proclaimed 
under martial law, for the mere killing of a tithe-proctor! 



*HE mSli REPUBLIC. . • 223 

" It is here well worthy of reflection, that the exercise of 
free quarters and martial law, the suspension of all munici- 
pal courts of justice, the discretional application of the tor- 
ture to suspected persons, executions in cold blood, and the 
various measures which Mountjoy and Carew, and other 
officers of Elizabeth practiced in Ireland by her authority 
in 1598-9 were again judged to be expedient, and were 
again resorted to with vigor, in the years 1798-9, two hun- 
dred years after they had been practiced by the ministers of 
Elizabeth."— Barrington, 212-13. 

Another source of the misgovernment of Ireland is, that 
nearly the whole of Ireland, prior to 1849, was owned by a 
few absentee landlords — that is, a few aristocrats. Those 
absentees drew out of Ireland their rents in the nature of 
food, to be consumed in England! Their bailiffs, agents, 
and attorneys collected the rents, (which was Irish food for 
British markets) for which Ireland did not receive one 
shilling, as all the rents of the greedy " absentee land- 
lords " were spent in England ! The cupidity of the En- 
glish rulers laid duties on imports and exports, save the raw 
produce, which was to be carried in British ships, which 
was called the " coasting trade !" Another monstrous eyil 
was the consolidation of the treasury. That is, the English 
treasury, like Aaron's rod, swallowed up the Irish treasury ! 
We will here go back before the time of the union to show 
that at all times and in all places the English government 
wanted to ruin the resources of Ireland ! 

In the reign of Charles the First, the domineering, avari- 
cious, ambitious, and perfidious Lord Wentworth destroyed 
the woolen manufactures of Ireland. The English manu- 
facturers were jealous of the prosperity of the Irish manu- 



224 . THE IRISH HJiPUBLlC. 

facturers, who could undersell the English traders in for- 
eign markets. For this purpose he imposed such restraints 
on Irish woolen goods as amounted to complete annihila' 
tion. He was anxious to discourage every species of man- 
ufactures in Ireland, as would compete with English man- 
ufactures and trade. Such was the infamous policy of the 
despotic, haughty and obnoxious Lord. But it was some 
' consolation for the Irish to behold the downfall of the im- 
perious tyrant ! Before the act of settlement, the Milesian 
and Norman settlers owned nineteen-twentieths of the lands 
of Ireland. By the infamous act of settlement, they were 
robbed, and their lands given either to the " undertakers " 
or the Cromwellians. Thus many of the most noble Irish 
families were reduced to beggary. 

Such was the jealousy of the English monopolists, that 
the English parliament passed an act against the importa- 
tion of Irish cattle into the English market. Such was, at 
that time, the party hate in England towards anything 
Irish, that the importation of beef, pork and butter were 
forbidden to enter English soil, but they have since chang- 
ed their minds ; at least in the years of Irish famine ! 

However we may condemn the policy of Ormond, how^- 
ever we may blame him for his duplicit}^, no matter how 
we may censure his ambition, avarice, cunning, and time- 
serving policy, we must gjve him credit for his noble efforts 
to encourage Irish manufactures. He erected, at Clonmel, 
factories for the manufacture of worsted stockings and 
" Norwick stuffs. " He also encouraged the manufacture 
of linen. He imported skillful mechanics from England 
and the Low Countries, and from Jersey and France. But 
this laudable policy of Ormond, to encourage Irish manu- 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 225 

factiires, aroused the jealousy of England. Ormond was 
recalled and a person unfavorable to Irish interests put at 
the head of the Irish government. Such was the English 
policy in the reign of Charles II. 

We have often said that the Irish behold with sadness, 
that the greatness and prosperity of England caused the 
poverty of Ireland ! We repeat that the monopoly of trade 
has been always the favorite scheme of all English states- 
men — to enrich England and to oppress dear but unfortu- 
nate Ireland. The English nobleman, the English trader; 
Royalist and Puritan, one and all, were the foes of Irish in- 
diistry. It appeared that England knew of no other system 
of government for Ireland but by impoverishing her and 
breaking down the spirit of the people. They considered 
the prosperity of Ireland the downfall of England. When 
the glory of England was at its zenith — when English 
statesmen and warriors made England famous on the con- 
tinent of Europe, Ireland suffered most from her persecu- 
tors. King William, of " immortal memory," annihilated 
the woolen manufactures in Ireland, which was very pros- 
perous before the reign of Charles I. In 1698, the com- 
mons of England addressed the King of "immortal mem- 
ory" thus: 

"That being very sensible, the wealth and power of En- 
gland do, in a great measure, depend on the preserving of 
the woolen manufacture, as much as possible, to this realm, 
they thought that it become them, like their ancestors, to 
be jealous of the establishment and increase thereof else- 
where ; and to use their utmost endeavors to prevent it. 
They could not, without pain, observe that Ireland, which 
is dependent on and protected by England (what an impu- 
29 



226 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

dent mockery !) in the enjoyment of all she has, and which 
is so proper for the linen manufacture, the establishment 
and growth of which would be so enriching to themselves 
and so profitable to England, should of late apply itself to 
the woolen manufacture, to the great prejudice of the trade 
of this kingdom, and so unwillingly promote the linen 
trade, which would benefit both nations. That the conse- 
cjuence thereof would necessitate his Majesty's parliament 
of England to interpose to prevent the mischief, unless his 
Majesty " of imnnoftal memovy^'' by his authority and great 
wisdom, should find means to secure the trade of England 
by making his subjects of Ireland preserve the joint inter- 
est of both kingdoms; wherefore they implored his Maj- 
esty's protection and favor in this matter, and that he would 
make it his royal care, and enjoin all those he employed in 
Ireland to use their utmost endeavors to hinder the expor- 
tation of wool from Ireland (except it be imported hither,) 
and for discouraging the woolen manufactures and en- 
couraging the linen manufactures, to which the commons 
of England should ahvays be ready to give their utmost 
assistance." — Lawless, vol. 2, pp. 302-3. 

What an example of England's kindness and protection 
to Ireland. Yet people wonder why the Irish are not satis- 
fied with the old government of England. How strange 
that even enligiitened Irishmen are so much under the in- 
fluence of partisan blindness as to drink to the memory of 
this man, who thus impoverished their countrj^ When 
will party rancor yield to the true interest and common 
welfare of the country. When will Irishmen unite and 
banish the demon of discord, which leaves them at the 
mercy of their ancient oppressors ! 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 227 

We will show another instance of the kindness of En- 
gland and her fosterin;^ protection towards Ireland : 

" Queen Anne introduced her ferocious system of gov- 
ernment in Ireland, by an act which went to expel the in- 
habitants of Ireland from the lands of their fathers. She 
enacted, that no Catholic should have the power of pur- 
chasing any of the forfeited lands ; and that all leases 
which might have been made of such lands, shall be an- 
nulled, except those leases which might have been, made to 
the poor cottagers of two acres ; thus giving to the Irish 
such privileges as might best secure their vassalage 
to their task-masters. ' A law so barbarous,' says Mr. 
O'Connor, ' has no parallel in the records of nations ; ' 
yet the genius of the ' good Queen Anne ' could surpass 
the barbarity, as we shall see hereafter. No lapse of time 
could purge the Catholic of the hideous crime of iidelity 
to his religion, and attachment to his country. Never 
could he have power, by honorable labors of industry, of 
recovering those lands which w^ere forfeited by the intem- 
perate spirit of his fathers. He should consent to aban- 
don every principle of honor and morality, before he could 
be qualified to be received into the bosom of the glorious 
constitution, * * * The bill above mentioned, so cele- 
brated for its infamy, went to the total expulsion of the 
Catholics from any right of property in land. It disabled 
them from purchasing either lands or tenements, or taking 
by inheritance, devise, or gif^^ any lands in the hands of 
protestants ; making all estates which they might then hold, 
descendable by gavel kind, except in the case of the con- 
formity of the eldest son, rendering the father a mere ten- 
a,nt for life, depriving him of the power of alienating, 



338 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

mortgagini;, or encumbering, even for the support or the 
advancement of younger children, except under the con- 
trol and discretion of the chancellor." — Lawless, vol. 2, pp. 
320-1. 

This is the love of the " good Queen Anne " for Ireland. 
Yet we have Irishmen drinking to the memory of " good 
Queen Anne." Oh ! when will Irishmen merge the parti- 
san in the patriot ! By the perfidious system of unjust laws, 
the manufacture of woolen, silk, &c., was annihilated. Ire- 
land was forced to give her food for the products of the En- 
glish ^'- spinning jennies,^'' to enrich England. The wealth 
of England, as before mentioned, became the bane of Irish 
industry. For the industry of Ireland was crippled from 
the data of the penal laws until the era of Ireland's pros- 
perity, from 1782 to 1800. This prosperity was won by the 
volunteers and Irish statesmen demanding their rights— 
wheii they told England that Ireland should no longer be 
the vassal of any nation. They demanded " free trade." 
Ireland flourished under the blessings of ^'■free trade^'^ 
wrung from England in the hour of her weakness, in 1782, 
when the Irish volunteers were stronger than the whole 
military force of England. 

We will here quote from Barrington, how Ireland pros- 
pered under the blessings of a free parliament : 

" From that day Ireland rose in wealth, in trade, and in 
manufactures, agriculture, and every branch of industry 
that could enhance her value or render a people rich and 
prosperous. She had acquired her seat amongst the na- 
tions of the world, she had asserted her independence 
against the insolence of Portugal, she had suggested an 
Irish navy to protect her shores, she had declared a per- 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC, 229 

petual league of mutual amity and aid with Great Britain. 
The court of her Viceroy appeared as splendid as her mon- 
archs. Her nobles resided and expended their great for- 
tunes amongst the Irish people, the commons all resided 
on their own demesnes, supported and fostered a laborious 
and tranquil tenantry. The peace of the country was per- 
fect, no standing army, no militia, no police were wanting 
for its preservation; the activity of the volunteers had sup- 
pressed crime in every district, religious prejudices were 
gradually diminishing ; every means of amelioration were 
in contemplation or in progress. The distinctness of Ire- 
land had been proclaimed to the world by overt acts of 
herself, and of her monarch and the King of England. 
The Irish sceptre in the hands of her King had touched the 
charter of her independence, on the faith of nations, before 
God and man its eternal freedom had been declared, and 
should have been inviolable. But by some inscrutable 
will of Heaven, it was decreed that she should soon be 
again erased from the list of nations, punished without a 
crime, and laid prostrate at the feet of a jealous ally. "~ 
Barrington, pp. 330-31. 

Ireland from the time that the shackles were stricken 
from her limbs, when she obtained "free trade," rose in 
wealth and importance. Her commerce was prosperous, 
her agriculture and manufactures flourished. Her land- 
lords spent their rents in their own country. The aristoc- 
racy had their city residences in Dublin, where they spent 
a great part of their vast incomes. They encouraged im- 
provements on their estates. They enriched the mer- 
chants, tradesmen, and farmers ; but after the union these 
vast sums of money were spent out of the country, and the 



230 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

resident aristocracy went to England, where they spent 
their money. The absentee landlords left in Ireland their 
attorneys, agents and bailiffs to collect their rents, and to 
wield a despotic power over a down-trodden people. 
They did not encourage industry, manufactures or agricul- 
ture, but put the screws on the people to squeeze the. last 
pound from them, causing periodical famines. For be it 
remembered that in the years of the famine of 1817-18, 
Ireland exported more breadstuffs than was exported by 
the United States in 1850 ! - 



CHAPTER XXI. 

While the great Napoleon was victorious the Irish got 
high prices for their produce. The landlords raised the 
rents. After the battle of Waterloo " prices came down," 
and Ireland suffered ; and a general panic pervaded the 
whole country. The landlords demanded the same rents 
that they Avere getting when "prices were high." The 
farmers were ruined, and with them the nation ! The peo- 
ple felt the loss of their parliament and local legislation. 
They suffered from the evils of centralization of power. 

As l)efore mentioned, O'Connell commenced the agita- 
tion for the " repeal of the union," as the only means of 
relief for Ireland ; as the means of reviving her agricul- 
ture, commerce and manufactures, her wealth, power and 
prosperity. O'Connell was well calculated to lead the Irish, 
for he possessed noble qualities of both head and heart, 
unbounded patriotism, a mighty intellect, a comprehensive 
^iixd philosophical mind, and a, -yf onderful retention of mew- 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 231 

ory, — he possessed an am]3le fund of legal lore, lie had the 
wisdom of a Solon and a Solomon; the integrity of a Brutus, 
and the eloquence of a Demosthenes and a Cicero. He 
was temperate in his habits, without austerity, and religious 
without bigotry ; his life was an unbroken chain of consis- 
tency; he was the personification of a true patriot; he un- 
derstood human nature; he was the friend of the opi3ress- 
ed everywhere ; his life was spent in the cause of freedom 
and his country. He struck at (what was considered at 
that time) the root of Irish misrule. He demanded a " re- 
peal of the union." An Irish parliament in College Green. 
The people were aroused, and England had resort to the 
old plan, " divide and conquer." By his mighty eloquence 
and. patriotism he united the Irish people in 1843-4. The 
" rejDeal " agitation intimidated the English government. 
Had there been such an opportunity then as in 1782, he 
could have sprung such a revolution as would have ended 
the Hiberno-British empire. But unfortunately a rupture 
between O'Connell and some of the leading " repealers " 
-ended the " repeal agitation," and O'Connell died broken 
hearted in foreign climes ! But his spirit did not die. This 
spirit of agitation will never rest until Ireland is free from 
the ckains and bondage of England. But the future agita- 
tion will be from the cannon's mouth. For a new genera- 
tion has sprung up since the time of O'Connell, that will 
not be satisfied with anything short of the freedom and in- 
dependence of the "green isle of the ocean!" 



232 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The people know that all their misery, woe and banish- 
ment were the evil consequences of British parliamentary 
usurpation. We will here make a few extracts from Mc- 
Oulloch's Geographical Dictionary, edited in New York, 
title, "Ireland," which shows that there was exported from 
Ireland to pay absentee landlords, and other tribute, in 
wheat, wheat flour, barley, bere, oats, oat meal, rye, peas, 
beans, and malt : 
For the year 1801, - - - - 525 



a u 


" 1817, - 


- 


695,651 


u u 


" 1818, 


- 


1,204,733 


a a 


" 1820, - 


- 


1,415,722 


u u 


" 1825,- 


-- 


2,203,962 


Li u 


" 1832, - 


- 


3,000,000 


u u 


" 1838, 


- 


3,474,302 




EXPORTS FROM IRELAND 


TO ENGLAND. 








1825. 


1835. 


Cows and 


oxen, - - - 


63,524 


98,150 


Horses, 


- - - 


3,140 


4,655 


Sheep, 


- - 


72,191 


125,452 


Swine, 


-^ - - - 7 


65,919 


376,191 


Provisions, beans, per cwt., - 


599,124 


473,111 


Beef and 


pork. 


604,253 


370,597 


Butter, 


- 


474,161 


827,009 


Lard, 


- 


35,261 


70,267 



Ireland has paid in consequence of the loss of her par- 
liament, in Mty years, the round sum of two thousand two 
hundred and fifty millions of dollars to absentee landlords 

and the powsr-looins and spinning jennies of England ! 



THE IRlSIi ilEPtJBlilC. 233 

Now, as McCullocli does not give any returns of Irish ex- 
ports subsequent to 1838, the following table is taken from 
the American Whig Review for 1850 : 

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE, IRELAND, 1849. 





Acres. 


Quarters. 




Wheat, 


743,871 


2,926,733 


£ 7,316,832 


Oats, 


2,200,870 


11,521,606 


13,249,846 


Barley, 


283,587 


1,379,029 


2,758,058 


Bere, 


49,068 


274,016 


411,024 


Rye, 


12,415 


64,694 


126,180 


Beans, 


23,760 


84,456 


211,140 


Potatoes, 


284,216 


Tons. 

2,048,934 - 


8,606,523 


Turnips, 


370,344 


5,760,616 




Mangle Wortzle, 13,766 


247,269 


3,841,100 


Others, 


59,512 


720,064 


892,688' 




727,738 


8,785,144 


£ 6,570,957 


Hay, 


1,138,946 


1,866,684 




Flax, 


58,312 


58,312 




" cut. 


389,872 






Total acres, 


5,338,575 


£44,958,120 



Now, we see that in the year of the Irish famine, there 
was exported from Ireland to England food enough to sup- 
port twelve millions of people ! ! And yet one million of 
the people died for want of that food which was forcibly 
taken away to pay rent to absentee landlords. Had O'Con- 
nell been at the head of an Irish parliament in College 
Green^ three millions of the Irish would not have been cut 
off by famine and involuntary exile. So much for the 
curse of parliamentary usurpation and centralization. No 
30 



234 ME iRisii iiEPUBLic. 

wonder, to have an Irisli famine, when ah island a little 
larger than the State of Maine would give away, in the na- 
ture of tribute, food enough to feed sixteen millions of 
souls, in 1847 ! ! ! 

" Thus fares the land, by luxury betray'd ; 
In nature's simplest charms at first array'd : 
But verging to decline, its splendors rise, 
Its vistas strike, its palaces surprise ; 
While, scourged by famine from the smiling land 
The mournful peasant leads his humble band ; 
And while he sinks, without one arm to save, 
The country blooms — a garden and a grave." 

It has been estimated by very eminent scientific gentle- 
men, that if Ireland had been well cultivated, and her com- 
merce, manufactures and agriculture properly developed, 
she could maintain forty millions of inhabitants ! ! For there 
is not more than one-fourth of the whole island under cul- 
tivation, the remainder being mountains, commons, and 
lands enclosed as pasture grounds for the sole use of the 
aristocracy ! 

Another source of evil, (in consec[uence of the accursed 
union, already referred to,) is that Ireland has to bear her 
share of the national debt of England, For eMery twenty 
shillings she pays in taxes, twelve shillings of it goes to 
pay the interest on the national debt of England. So Ire- 
land has to pay for her own subjugation — for the millions 
spent to destroy her nationality — for hireling soldiers and 
for the corruption funds used to steal away her parliament, 
and for to pay an army of spies and castle-hacks ! Oh ! 
such is the blessing of the union, which Englishmen would 
fain make the world believe is a blessing to the Irish. 
Such is the civilization which England has inflicted on Ire- 
land ! This is the connection which Ireland wants to sever. 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. :335 

A connection which has entailed on Ireland every species 
of woe, misery, transportation and famine ! 

England, in her unholy system to rob Ireland, as well as 
to impose on the world ; to maintain the balance of power 
and to overawe the nations of the earth, has the audacity 
and cunning to make her own people, as well as those who 
admire the British constitution and British ascendency, be- 
lieve that England can subsist without the aid of foreign 
nations or foreign foodi Her statesmen tell the world, in 
flaunting and lying tones, that England could live independ- 
ently of the world, if a wall of fire or brass encompassed 
her shores ! That the only losers would be the world, thus 
cut off from the, so called, cradle of liberty. That the 
world would relapse into barbarism and be otherwise en- 
veloped in the mists and darkness of the middle ages 
were it not for the light of English civilization, religion, 
piety, wealth, and cotton goods. For this purpose false 
tables have been made of exports and imports. All pro- 
duce brought into England from Scotland^ Wales, Ireland, 
the United States, Canada and other countries, have been 
set down as English produce — the parliament of England 
by this imposture makes the deluded people of England 
believe that come what may, she can raise food enough to 
feed her soldiers and working-men, when in fact she does 
not raise food enough to support lier population for three 
months, in any year. Should her '■'' loooden walls^'' fail to 
protect her coast — should she get whipped at sea, as she 
may, even by a combination of naval forces, she would 
find herself in the same woeful and forlorn predicament of 
a garrison or a besieged town, with her supplies cut off. 
ShQ would \)Q starved into submission. She would have to 



236 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

lower her flag to any naval power that could intercept her 
commerce, and her island inhabitants would be reduced to 
famine. 

Dr. Cahill, in his famous letter to Lord John Kussel], 
stating the misrule of Ireland, utters the following words : 
" Alas J alas ! where shall I begin to tell your political ca- 
reer, as regards poor, down-trodden, faithful, persecuted 
Ireland ? Nor is it with ink and paper I would attempt 
the description of the woes of your rule. No, no, my Lord ; 
the deserted village, the waste land, the . unfrequented 
chapel, the silent glen, the pale face, and the mournful na- 
tional voice, stamped the history of Ireland with deep, 
deep impression of your administration, while the ferocity 
of the unbridled landlord, and the terrors of the uprooted 
and mouldering cabin, and the cries of the houseless or- 
phan, and the tears of the broken-hearted widow, and the 
emigrant ship, and the putrid- work-house, and red oozing 
pit of coffinless and "shroudless dead — these, these, oil ! all 
these, are all the thrilling and eloquent w^itnesses, to pub- 
lish to coming generations, and to unborn Irishmen, the 
character and the laws of the Russell cabinet! Ah, sir, 
when you read the terrific facts of the mother living on 
the putrid remains of her own child; and when you saw 
the awful account of several corpses of dead bodies of the 
poor Irish being exposed for days in unburied putridity, 
and devoured by dogs in this unheard of state ; and when 
you had heard the cries that were wafted across the chan- 
nel for help, and those that rose to heaven for mercy, from 
Skibbereen, from Ballinasloe, from ffilrush, and from Ball- 
inroble — has your heart, sir, ever smote you with remorse, 
that you heard these cries of Ireland with a pitiless cora- 



THE lEISH REPUBLIC. 237 

posure, and sent to starving and dying millions, a heartless 
pittance from your overflowing treasury?" — Dr. Cahill, pp. 
227-8. 

Oh ! let the government of England tremble, for God is 
just. Let the government remember that though the Lord 
may suffer the multitudinous sins of a nation to escape 
punishment for a season, sooner or later he will punish the 
guilty nations. And as a nation cannot be punished in the 
next world, as a nation, she will be punished in this. Such 
has been the doom of all nations, ancient and modern. 
We say again to the government of England, remember 
that God is just! 



CHAPTER XXIIL 

The English govejrnment caused millions of Irishmen to 
perish by famine in 1847-8-9, when at the same time Ire- 
land was robbed of three times more food than was raised 
in those years in the United States ! And this in the years 
of famine ! This famine was not as England had told the 
world, a visitation of providence as much as systematic 
robbery ! But we are told that the potatoe crop had failed 
in those years of famine ; but it must be remembered that 
the potatoe crop was not more than a mere fraction when 
compared with the agricultural crop in the years 1846-7- 
8-9. For, from its perishable quality, it was not an article 
of commerce. For the cereal crop was ample to support 
double the population of Ireland, if left in the country. 
But the greedy landlords had to get their rents in food, to 
be Uk§n to l^ngland to feed England ! The avaricious and 



238 THE IRISH E.EPUBLIC. 

oppressive landlords had to be paid both r«nt and arrears. 
Lord John Kussell told the landlords to insist on their legal 
rights, which then, amounted, in many instances, to five 
years rent, which had to be paid in food. The English 
forces in Ireland were at the disposal of the landlords and 
their tyrannical agents, who were the magistrates. 

The English holders of mortgages on Irish estates were 
directed by the English government to force their claims. 
English creditors claimed their money, and the bank of 
England ordered the bank of Ireland, the same being under 
her control, to renew " no bills or give no bills on any 
terms." By this means thousands of the honest and in- 
dustrious farmers, merchants, traders and mechanics, who, 
until now, passed for wealthy, were ruined. 

The landlords drove the people — that is, by the aid of 
hireling soldiers, they took the stock and grain from the 
farms and had it taken out of the country to English mar- 
kets. 

The majority of those landlords were Englishmen, who 
got their rents from their agents in Ireland and spent 
it in England. So the English had both the Irish food and 
their money ! 

Regiments of soldiers, with the hireling police, in many 
instances actually cut the crop and had it taken on board 
of steamboats and sent to England ; so of the live stock. 
And all this was done at the behest of Lord John Russell! 
We find on the authority of the London Times, that twenty 
steamers per day arrived in the English ports, " laden with 
produce, " from the shores of Ireland. Yet the Irish peiv 
ished by famine ! It so happened that while the Irish per- 
ished for want of food, tlio stprehoiises of England -^er^ 



i^HE IRtSlI EEI*UBLIC. 230 

bursting With the food taken from Ireland by British sol- 
diers ! 

But to fill up the cuj) of British infamy, the very food 
sent to Ireland by the United States was taken by the land- 
lords to be distributed. They compelled the people to 
work cutting down mountains and making roads for the 
special use and benefit of the landlords ; and only gave 
them a small pittance of this very same food which was so 
generously sent to Ireland by the benevolent people of the 
United States ! In many instances the landlords and tlieir 
followers used this very same food themselves, and left the 
poor to die by the way-side ; more than a million of people 
who found a living on farms, were driven from their homes 
by the lawless landlords to seek for work, perish or emi- 
grate ! English spendthrifts and half-pay officers got their 
living out of this very same food sent by generous and hos- 
pitable America to Ireland. The landlords, as before men- 
tioned, had their lands improved by compelling the poor to 
work for this food which was the benevolent gift of the 
people of the United States, under the spurious plea that 
they could not have food on any other terms. Can we 
wonder at " midnight legislation " when we hear that the 
people, who have sufi"ered more persecution than any other 
people in the world, should visit their persecutors with am- 
ple and terrfble punishment ! Let the reader answer ! This 
is the blessing of landlordism. The cause of Irish woes of 
every nature. We must pull down this despotic system of 
legalized plunder ! We have stated that little more than 
one-fourth of Ireland is cultivated. What room is there for 
the development of the resources of Ireland, and for im- 
proving the lands that now bear no fruit. If Ireland had 



240 *tHE IRISH republic!. 

been governed by wise laws— if the estates of the aristoc- 
racy were broken up — the commons, bogs, and mountains 
could be made very valuable and fertile lands for agricul- 
ture — if the tenants were protected by law — if their rights 
and improvements were secured by competent legislation. 
Had the thousands in Ireland who have no lands to culti- 
vate of their own, been allowed, under a judicious system 
of tenure, to cultivate and improve the lands that are now 
a mere waste, they would increase the wealth and food of 
Ireland. Had they long leases and compensation for their 
improvements, the very mountains of Ireland could be cul- 
tivated to their very summits. The Irish, who have to 
work in the manufacturing towns of England, Wales and 
Scotland, would, under a local parliament and laws for the 
protection and improvement of the soil, have comfortable 
homes in their own country, tilling the lands which now 
under English misrule is a mere waste. Then they would 
not have to cultivate the soil in strange lands. Irishmen 
would not be dispersed in every clime from the north pole 
to the south pole, and from the rising to the setting sun ! 

But the landlords give little or no encouragement to their 
tenants. For in such instances, when the landlords of the 
last century gave their tenants long leases of unimproved 
wild lands, with promises that they should never be dis- 
turbed, as long as they paid their rent, the landlords of 
to-day, in this age of civilization, when the tenants, whose 
fathers improved these lands, are unfortunate enough to 
have their leases expire, notwithstanding said promises, 
those greedv landlords will not let those lands again on 
any other terms but from year to year, and then only at 
very exorbitant rents. This is done so that the tyrannical 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 241 

landlords would always have the tenants at their mercy. 
That they could, when they felt so disposed, remove them 
with a mere " notice to quit.-'' Then if the tenants do not 
do everything to please them, the landlords have it in their 
power to dispossess them. They can even levy on their 
tenants a fine at will. The tenants in such cases are under 
the • despotic control of their tyrannical landlords. We 
copy the following from the Dublin Nation : 

"The Irish landlord'^ only notion of a peasant is a payer 
of rent ; his only notion of government as the squanderer 
of grants. When the cottiers can pay no rent, he turns 
them out to die ; and when ministers will give no more 
money, he turns round and blackguards them.'"' 

Thus, for instance, if the tenants do not follow the dic- 
tation of the landlords and vote for them or for their can- 
didates, they are thrown out of their homes, which shelter- 
ed them and their forefathers for generations — their houses 
pulled down and the homeless occupants made to seek 
shelter under the broad canopy of heaven. The unfortu- 
nate tenants are thrown on the world to die or seek a home 
in other climes! To make this despotism more galling, 
the inhuman landlords pay not one cent for the improve- 
ments. But the lands which the poor tenants and their 
forefathers improved are converted to raising fat cattle 
to be eaten in England! This vile system must be 
changed. The farmers who make valuable improvements 
must be paid for the same. Then, the lands that are now 
wild and profitless, will be made the homes of the toiling 
millions. Until that is done, and the tenants have some 
interest in the lands they improve — until they are made 
independent of the tyrannical landlords and their minions, 
31 



242 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

spies and bailiffs, so long will England find Irishmen un- 
willing subjects. 

We will place before our readers the following sad pic- 
ture of the wrongs, grievances, cruelties, and mal-govern- 
ment of Ireland and the despotism of the Irish landlords, 
from the pen of an eminent and standard authority. This 
author. Dr. Cahill, in depicting the wrongs and mal-gov- 
ernment of Ireland, speaks in the following glowing, elo- 
quent and forcible language, thus : 

'• The history of other countries is learned from the cool 
pen of the historian, but that of Ireland is learned from the 
crimsoned tombs of the dead. The history of other nations 
is collected from the growing population and successful 
commerce, but the sad story of Ireland is gathered from 
the deserted village, the crowded poor-house, and the 
mournful swelling canvas of the emigrant ship. (Loud 
cheers.) You gave me too much credit for those slender 
productions of mine, and perhaps you are not aware that 
it w^as on the graves of the starved and shroudless victims 
of English misrule I stood when I indited the epistles. I 
dated them from the grave pits of Sligo, and the fever 
sheds of Skibbereen. If I seemed to weep, it was because 
I followed to the cofSnless tombs tens of thousands of my 
poor, persecuted fellow-coujitrymen ; and if my descrip- 
tions appeared tinged with red, it was because I dipped 
my pen in their fresh bleeding graves, in order to give 
suitable coloring to the terrific page on which a cruel fate 
has traced the destinies of Ireland. " — Dr. CahilFs Works, 
pages 46-7. 

Dr. Cahill, in giving an epitome of the history of Ireland 



THE lEISH REPUBLIC. 243 

since the English first set their pollnted feet upon sainted 
Ireland, speaks thus : 

" Therefore, I begin with the years 1172-7, when Henry 
11. conquered Ireland through the dissension and treachery 
of our own countrymen ; and from this time down to 1570, 
for nearly four hundred years, there v/as continued strug- 
gling between England and Ireland ; and during these four 
hundred years, they could never conquer Ireland — never 
able to pass Leinster, so that three other provinces were 
never conquered. And in these times the most barbarous 
cruelties were practiced on the people. * * Amongst 
other instances, he would mention that the English soldiers 
were not allowed to deal with us — not to spread even what 
civilization they might boast. Never were the conquered 
treated with greater cruelty than from the reign of Henry 
II. to that of Henry YIII. The execution of Clare he 
would allude to, when the British soldiers outraged the 
wives and daughters of the Irish before their faces, and 
shot them, or tossed them over the rocks if they compl^iined. 
Five hundred lashes was the penalty if a British soldier 
married an Irish girl." — Dr. Oahill, p. 155. 

Now, I ask, what agriculture could have been success- 
fully pursued in a country like ours, which during the four 
hundred years we have now in view, was a scene of per- 
petual struggles between tlie oppressing conqueror and 
the poor conquered? How could commerce be entered 
into, while the enemy's camp was at their gates, and they 
were nearly all occujDied in repelling the invaders ? Every 
honest Englishman will bear me out in these conclusions. 
In England, at the very time commerce was beginning, the 
crusades had begun, and all their opening and kindling in- 



244 TH-E IKISH KEPUBLIC= 

liuences of chivalry. During these four hundred years 
England was cultivating learning and the arts and sciences, 
with the most important characteristic combination amongst 
themselves, while poor Ireland was learning M^ar, and feel- 
ing its fury, which made it a theatre of animosity and dis- 
sension. * *■ Whose fault was it that our country was 
so wretched? Was it the fault of the Irish ? * * * 

" The concjuerors took every acre of land, as the law said : 
' An Irishman must only have an acre of arable land, and 
half an acre of bog.' The laws of Elizabeth were levelled 
against the three most important things in a nation's wel- 
fare — property, education, and the religion of the people. 
* "'•' During the seventy years we have now in review, 
persecution raged to tdie greatest extent; and Elizabeth 
contemplated the entire subjugation of Ireland. About 
the end of her reign, by dint of the cruelest warfare, and 
the banishment of 70,000 Irish, she subjugated that coun- 
try, leaving behind her the most withering, burning des- 
truction and heart-rending cruelty that have ever been re- 
corded against any nation. 

'' Look now at the position of your poor country — no ag- 
riculture, no commerce. * * "—Dr. Gahill, pp. 156-7. 

(" Our parliament gone in 1801.) They succeeded, by 
spending four and a half millions, and have left Ireland 
without a parliament from that day to this. Our parlia- 
ment gone in 1801, what more did England do ? She took 
away our linen trade, by putting a duty upon it; she dis- 
couraged our trade, beggared our commerce, and made 
that verdant, beautiful island a desert. Yes, it vras the 
Irish landlords sold our birth-right, and by the treacherous 
landlords' conduct has com© npon ns the greatest curse Ire- 



THE IB.I8H KEPUBLIC. 24"5 

land has ever siislained. Between the years 1793 and 1815 
land rose cent per cent in Ireland ; provisions rose in equal 
proportion ; the wealthy left it ; clothes became dearer, 
and the youiig men entered the army ; so that the Irish 
conld liye no longer in their own country; they had to 
leave Ireland, cometo England and go abroad." — Dr. Ca- 
hill, pp. 167-S. 

Let England do justice to Ireland, while there is an op- 
portunity for redressing the wrongs of the people. For the 
day is hot far distant when Irishmen will tell England that 
they will rule themselves- — that they will not submit to 
any law under heaven but that of their own country alone. 
That they will not submit to the hirelings of British des- 
potista ! Day is breaking. Let England remember that 
the victims of landlordism will s|)eak music from the can- 
non's mouth. That Irish misrule will be redressed by the 
Irish of America ! We may call them what we may, there 
is a poYv'er in America that will, when an opportunity fa- 
vors, sever English connection. They will give such a blow 
as will redress the wrongs of the homeless tenants of Oar- 
low, where whole familes have been driven from their 
homes hy the sheriffs, bailiifs, and the viperous police, 
without time to partake of a dinner ; and forced to take 
shelter in the open air, or in ditches and sheds. Yet the 
London Times speaks of the Irish agrarian outrages. This 
barbarous and feudal system of vile-tyranny must be ended. 
The millions of the sons of toil must no longer depend on 
the will of the feudal landlords and their perfidious and 
barbarous despotism. The wise and patriotic maxim, sahcs 
popicli stijprema est lex^ will be our motto. The tenants 
must be no longer at the mercy of the crow-bar brigade. 



246 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

They must not be evicted at the whim and caprice of a ty- 
rant. Their right to live on the land must be recognized 
by law. Homesteads for a fair rent, and not to be raised 
whenever the landlords so will it. The day of feudal aris- 
tocracy is at an end ; and the principles of equality ar,e 
gaining ground all over the world. Kings and lords are 
made for the people and not the people for them. Napo- 
leon III. understood this when he granted a general amnes- 
ty to all political offenders. This was noble on the part of 
the French Emperor. Let England do likewise in future ! 

Such is the system of the vile and oppressive landlords, 
that in Tipperary the farmers are driven to seek the " wild 
justice of revenge" — provoked by despair and oppression. 
Heart rending oppression and iniquitous cruelty imposed 
on the farmers has incited the national indignation of an 
outraged people. When they see day by day the law per- 
verted for the benefit of the landlords, the honest indus- 
try of the people trampled upon and their homes pulled 
dow^n over their heads, and themselves thrown upon the 
world, and the landlords reaping the fruits of their toil, 
what wonder if in their agonized, excited and suffering 
condition, they should fly to avenge their wrongs, with just 
retribution on the heads of their oppressors — when they 
see their homes made waste by the dire curse of cruel 
eviction laws — when they behold their country converted 
into a howling wilderness. The abominable extermination 
of the people by tyrannical landlords has filled the minds 
of the people with dismay and indignation. What wonder, 
then, that we should have " agrarian crime, " and execra- 
tion of landlords, and loud and deep complaints against 
the whole iniquitous misgovernmejit of Ireland. But 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 247 

what relief do the people get from England — what protec- 
tion from the cruelties of tyrannical landlords? Extra 
police for Tipperary ! ! 

We shall here show the vile spirit of English despotism, 
which would not even let the Irish raise their own tobacco, 
but they must smoke tobacco which pays a heavy duty, to 
go into the pockets of the English government. We will 
here show that this spirit has not been of modern inven- 
tion ; for in 1661, the first year after the restoration, an act 
was passed, 11 Car. 11, Ch. 34, by the parliament of En- 
gland, prohibiting the growth of tobacco in Ireland. This 
remnant of the penal laws is on the statute book of England ! 

This is protection for Irishmen. Oh ! England, the pride 
of the world ! ! the day of retribution is coming ; the day 
when landlordism will be abolished, when Ireland will be 
able to break her chains, and the sun-burst, like a brilliant 
luminary, will shine forth with refulgent splendor after 
seven centuries of darkness. This should be the hope, 
aim, and object of every true hearted and patriotic Irish- 
man. Why should the Irishmen of America abandon the 
land of their birth ? For no earthly honors in this country ; 
no amount of wealth should satisfy the ambition of Irish- 
men, while their dear old country groans under the iron 
rod of despotism. We should feel for the woes, wrongs, 
and grievances of our countrymen on the other side of the 
Atlantic. We should encourage every noble effort of Irish- 
men to burst the iron chain which connects Ireland to En- 
gland. Certainly we may encourage, for the present, " ten- 
ant rights," but we should never forget that nothing will 
secure the liberty of Ireland short of the freedom and in- 
dependence and eternal separation from England ! 



248 ' THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE FENIAN ORGANIZATION. FENIANISM — ITS RESULTS, FENIAN 
HEROES AND MARTYRS. ■.{m;! ;!!; 

Tlie Fenian organization — Fenianism — Its results — Fenian 
heroes and martyrs — Phcenix Society— O'Donovan— The 
organization in Munstei': — Government spies— Arrests — 
Indictments — Members of the Society found guilty ^ — 
Packed juries — "The IrLsh People" — The editors sen- 
tenced to penal servitude — Tyrannical landlards— British 
misrule in Ireland— Bad laws — Confiscation of Irish es- 
tates — Desmond — Ormond — Normans and Saxons^ — Da- 
nish settlements — Ben. Butler and spoons — Cromwellians 
— ^Tread-mill and " Croppy hole " — Rack-renters-^Avari- 
cious agents — Tithes and church-rates — Wexford rebel- 
lion—Irish in America — '48 Emmett monument associa- 
tion — Fenian organization — Their principles — Fenian 
Congress — John O'Mahony — Fenian Constitution — Feni- 
an Congress — Fenian address — Second National Fenian 
Convention — Fenian raid into Canada — Penal code-- 
lienry VIII. — English laws — Irish Americans — ^Public 
opinion in the United States — O'Mahony and Roberts' 
branches — Fenians divided — The Fenian raid into Cana- 
da prevented by the United States — London Times — The 
Fenian organization all over the world — The Irish in En- 
gland — English Tory Lords— Clerkenwell prison explo- 
sion — Disestablishment of the Irish church — Death of 
the tithes—" No Popery cry " — Fenians in Tipperary^ — 
Packed juries — Irish Fenians found guilty — English law 
: — Anglo-Saxons — English cruelties to Fenians— Fenians 
starved in British prisons — Ireland fought for England- 
British press — National schools — National school books — 
English policy — Landlords — Leases — Irish Americans- — 
Landlords in 1844 — Extermination of Irishmen — ^Irish 
famine — Cromwell's slaughter house — British House of 
Commons — Irishmen to be sent to New Zealand — Irisli 
famine — Irish in the United States—Jackson — ^New Or- 
leans— Irish famine — Lord John Russell— Surplus popu- 
lation — British despotism— Lord Russell found guilty of 
willful murder — Spirit of liberty gaining ground in Ire- 
land — British dungeons. • 



'£M iRisM REJPtlBlilC. ^49 

In 1857, tliS iPhoenix Socieity was foi^med by O'Bonovan 
and Moynahan, in the county of Cork, This society spread 
through the counties of Cork and Kerry. The organizers 
drilled and organized the society on a military basis. This 
society did not escape the lynx-eyed spies of the govern- 
ment. An additional force was sent to the districts where 
the society drilled and held meetings. The discussions in 
the newspapers only tended to increase the excitement and 
give more importance to the society. In December, 1858, 
several arrests were made by the authorities. Bills of in- 
dictment were found against the most prominent leaders, 
Moynahan, O'Shea, Sullivan, McCarthy, and O'Donovan 
(Kossa). The first victim of the society was Sullivan, who 
was found guilty by a packed jur}'. All the " Phoenix men" 
Avere released but O'Donovan, Moynahan, and O'Shea. 
After eight months, O'Donovan and O'Shea were set free 
by the government. 

O'Donovan became one of the proprietors of the " I7'is7i 
Peopled He was arrested in 1865, tried by a packed jury, 
and sentenced to penal servitude for life. We will go 
back now to the organization of the Fenian Society in the 
United States, 

The victims of tyrannical landlords, who had to leave 
the hills of their youth, in consequence of the ruthless des- 
potism of the Irish- landlords, and the oppression of the 
English government, British misrule and iDenal laM'^s— laws, 
like those of Draco, written in blood and executed in ven- 
geance. Yes, English laws, which were one thing for the 
rich and another for the poor. The English laws in Ireland, 
since the time of Henry II., were tyrannical and offensive. 
Those laws were luxurj'- to the rich, but death and oppres- 
32 



250 'IHE imsit eepoblic, 

sion to the poor. Should Irishmen respect the laws of En- 
gland? Should Irishmen rejoice over the power, wealth 
and prosperity of England ? No, never, for that prosperity, 
wealth and power, in Ireland, was established on the tears, 
moans and sighs of widows and orphans ; the bones of 
the brave and the blood of warriors ; the wholesale and- 
vile banishment of the people, evictions, and transportation ; 
the convict-shij) and the penal colonies ; martial law and 
the rack ; the dungeon and the gallows ; the "tread-mill " 
and the " croppy hole ; " robbery and midnight conflagra- 
tion, murder, torture, famine, pestilence, and all manner of 
persecution which a wicked and tyrannical government 
could wield and invent. 

This, together with wholesale confiscation of estates un- 
der the colonial tyrants, the " undertakers " and the Crom- 
wellians in former times, and the despotism of landlords in 
this age, has made Ireland one of the most oppressed coun- 
tries in the world. For the British government and the 
colonial tyrants of the pale, in the reign of Elizabeth, in- 
cited rebellion in Ireland as a pretext for getting Irish 
estates. This may be seen from the answer given by Eli- 
zabeth to those who made complaint against Tyrone : 

" Be not dismayed, " said the queen; "tell my friends, 
if he arise, it will turn to their advantage ; there will be 
estates for them who want ; from me he must expect no 
further favor." 

Yes, the object of all of the wars against the Irish was to 
give estates to the greedy invaders of Ireland. During the 
reign of this queen, Mountjoy desolated the fair fields of 
Munster with fire and sword ; so that even Englishmen 
represented to the queen that she had nothing in Munster 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC, 251 

to rule over but ashes. Such was the desolation of Ireland 
under the tyrant Mountjoy, that even Elizabeth exclaimed : 

" Ah! how I fear, least it be objected to us, as it was to 
Tiberius, by Bato, concerning the Dalmatian commotions : 
' You, you it is that are in fault, who have committed your 
flocks, not to shepherds but to wolves.' " Indeed, this may 
be said of all the British rulers of Ireland, since the time of 
Henry II. to the present time. Had Ireland a milder and 
more just government she would be as prosperous and 
happy as any country in the world. For the Irish are a 
law-loving people. They are firmly attached to the consti- 
tution of the United States, and would die to defend it. 
No people in the world love liberty, justice, and equality 
more than the Irish in the United States. 

For as we have already shown that the great object of 
the invaders under Normans and Cromwellians, was to get 
Irish estates, we can prove this from standard and reliable 
authority. . 

One of Ireland's gifted and eminent historians, furnishes 
the following evidence, which shows that the object of the 
colonial tyrants, one and all, from the first to the end of 
the chapter of plunderers, was to get the lands of the old 
Irish and then to reduce the old inhabitants to the condi- 
tion of day laborers. All the laws of the pale had this ob- 
ject in view. In modern times the vile herd of landlords 
in Ireland, their attorneys, agents and spies, have followed 
the vile and heartless example of their forefathers. For if 
the tenants were making a fair living by hard work— if 
they had expended the fruits of the soil and their labor to 
improve their farms, the landlords were certain to raise 
the rents. 



352 THE lEISH REPUBLIC. 

The following from MacGeoghegaii shows how Ireland 
was robbed in the reign of the good queen Bess of blessed 
memor}'^ : 

"The estates of Desmond being thus disposed of, circu- 
lars were sent into the counties of England to invite the 
youngest sons of families to come and take possession of 
other estates that were confiscated. One of the conditions 
was, that they should hold them in fief, at three pence per 
acre, in the counties of Limerick, Oonnillo and Kinry, and 
at tw^o pence in those of Cork and Waterford, and that no 
Irishman should be suffered to reside on them.'' — Mac- 
Geoghegan, p. 492. 

As farther proofs and illustrations of the despotism of 
those times, we insert the following: 

" John Desmond fell into the snares of the reformers ; 
and Ormond had the honor of ending the scene by the 
death of this chieftain, the fifteenth earl of his family. 
His extensive estates, whose revenue exceeded, at that 
time, four hundred thousand crowns, ''' * were divided 
among the English who supported the war against him, and 
particularly the Earl of Ormond,' w^ho had a large share in 
the spoils."— Id., p. 487. 

Of course the cunning and perfidious Ormond had a 
large share in the spoils. Yes, the Ormond family man- 
aged to keep on the strong side during the many Irish re- 
bellions. They were either Royalists or Puritans, as best 
suited the times. They aided Charles or Cromwell, as the 
fortunes of war dictated to their selfishness. In this way 
the Ormond family managed to hold their vast estates in 
Kilkenny and Tipj)erary. This is one of the prime reasons 
that the Oromwelliaus and Saxons did not take root in Kil- 



THE IRISH EEPUBLIC. 253 

kenny and Tipperary. That is the reason that the inhabi- 
tants of those two counties are principally of Milesian and 
Norman extraction. For from the inland situation of those 
counties the Danes did not make settlements in them. The 
Danish settlements were confined to the sea coast. The 
Ormond family has made a record in Irish history which 
will brand them with infamy forever. They were always 
the instruments of the English government. They were 
indeed the vilest of the colonial task-masters of the pale. 
What wonder then that Ben. Butler should have made 
himself infamous, in the United States, as a rotten branch 
from the old Ormond tree. He was a loud-mouthed Dem- 
ocrat when the Democrats had possession of the spoils of 
office. He voted for Jeff Davis in the Charleston conven- 
tion. He did all in his power to break up the Charleston 
convention. But when the war broke out, then he saw 
that the Republicans would, for some time, in consequence 
of the war power, have all the offices in the United States, 
civil and military. Federal and State, even down to the 
county, town, and ward offices. And as Ben. Butler wanted 
to follow the example of the Ormond aristocracy in follow- 
ing the strongest party, he left the old Democratic ship and 
sailed in a Republican craft for New Orleans, and made 
himself rich by " lifting things " great and small, even 
down to a spoon. If Jeff Davis had been victorious, Ben. 
Butler would be very glad to become his tool and servant. 
He would join any party having the spoils of office. So 
much for the Ormond tyrants of the pale. 

The English adventurers divided the Irish estates among 
their followers ; hence, as we have said, the followers of 
Kli^abeth or Cromwell have no right to their vast estates 



254 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

in Ireland but that of conc[uest and plunder. MacGeoghe- 
gan speaks of the acts of confiscation as follows : 

* * " By a similar act, the estates of Thomas Fitzger- 
ald, Knight of the Glynn, in the county of Limerick, and 
his son Thomas, were confiscated for their rebellion."-— Id., 
p. 473. 

Again, we will give another instance of confiscations un- 
der the workings of Cromwell's slaughter-house. By these 
iniquitous proceedings the Irish were robbed of their vast 
estates and driven beyond the Shannon — were forced to eix- 
ile themselves to foreign countries. Many of the doomed 
race who are now working on the railroads in the United 
States are the rightful owners of those vast estates now in 
the hands of the vile and despotic Oromwellians. 

" Cromwell's soldiers were the next to receive rewards ; 
the tyrant was, it is true, deeply indebted to them, since, 
with the assistance of their brethren in England, they had 
raised him from obscurity to absolute power over the three 
kingdoms. His gratitude was equal to their zeal ; he divi- 
ded twelve entire counties between these fanatics, the 
cruel ministers of his tyranny. " 

The English government and the vile castle party put 
the people of Ireland under the hateful dominion of the 
landlords, the viperous rack-renters and avaricious agents 
and bailiifs. There was another source of oppression to the 
toiling millions of the country, that of tithes and church- 
rates, together with a mountain of taxation, which filled up 
the cup of human woe and misery. From this vile oppres- 
sion, many Irishmen left the scenes of their youth to seek 
homes in the wilds of America. Yet, while in foreign lands, 
they did not forget British despotism and the hateful cruel- 



itIE iKIsk REPUBLIC. 255 

ties of the landlords, their agents and bailiffs! The Irish 
emigrants sighed for the long wished for opportunity to re- 
venge the wrongs of centuries on the vile oppressors of 
Ireland ! They wish to revenge '98 and '48. 

Though we have already given, in another place, the 
history of the cruelties of the government and the colonial 
aristocracy, we -will give a few extracts from truthful histo- 
rians. 

The cruelties of Wexford will never be forgotten by 
the Irish in all climes, at all times and in all places, until 
Irelan4 is free. Let the government of England then do 
justice to Ireland while there is time for doing justice to 
the most oppressed of nations. No government in the 
world can* be always secure from foreign wars. England 
should remember the fate of other nations that have 
oppressed nations — that sooner or later that nation fell from 
the height of power and greatness. The following will 
show the sufferings of Ireland in 1798 : 

We will give what John Mitchel says of the despotism 
of the ascendency, and of their mode of driving the people 
into rebellion, in 1798 : 

"The infamous Hunter Gowan now sighed for an oppor 
tunity to vent his ferocious propensity of murdering his 
Catholic neighbors in cold blood. When the yeomanry 
corps was first formed, he was not considered sufficiently 
respectable to be charged with the command of one ; but 
in consequence of the proclamation of martial law, he soon 
obtained a commission of the peace and was created a cap- 
tain, and was commissioned to raise a cavalry corps; in 
a short time he succeeded in getting about thirty or forty 
low Orangemen, badly mounted ; but they soon j)rocured 



256 THE IRISH HEPUBLld. 

better houses, at the expense of the farmers, who v/Qt^ 
j)lundered without redress. This corps went by the name 
of the black mob ; their first campaign was, to arrest all 
the Catholic blacksmiths, and to burn their houses. Poor 
William Butler, James Haydon, and Dalton, smiths whom 
we employed to shoe our horses and to do other work, for 
many years before, were condemned to be transported, ac- 
cording to the recent law enacted, that magistrates upon 
their own authority could sentence to transportation. But 
the monster Hunter Go wan, thinking this kind of punish- 
ment too slight, wished to give his young men an opportu- 
nity to prove they were staunch blood-hounds. Poor Gar- 
rett Fennell, who had just landed from England, and was 
on his way to see his father and family, was met by this 
corps, and tied by his two hands up to a tree ; they then 
stood at a certain distance, and each man lodged the con- 
tents of his carbine in the body of poor Fennell, at their 
captain's command." — Mitchel, pp. 290-1. 

Again, we will give a further proof and illustration of 
the persecution of the Irish in 1798. Indeed, the whole 
history of Ireland, from the time that the first, invader j)ol- 
luted the soil of Ireland to the present, is the history of 
blood, j)lunder and confiscation. No nation has sufi"ered as 
much persecution as the Irish. The great wonder then, is, 
that they have kept alive the spark of liberty from gener- 
ation to generation. It is indeed strange, when we know 
that the country has been made one great grave yard from 
north, south, east and west. Nothing but blood, blood. 
The Irish are a wonder — a miracle. Other nations yielded 
to the conqueror and submitted to the galling yoke of servi- 
tude, but the Irish are at this day unconquered in spirit. 



(i'liil iiiisH teJiPufrLlc*. 257 

Jonah Barrington speaks of British cruelties perpetrated 
on Irishmen in 1798 : 

" The Irish experienced a very different conduct in 1798, 
when immediate execution was generally the gentlest pun- 
ishment inflicted upon the insurgents of every rank, office, 
and description, and the laws of retaliation giving rise to a 
competition of barbarities, deluged the whole country in 
blood, extinguished its spirit, divided its people, and de- 
stroyed its reputation." — Barrington, p. 61. 

The following is still additional proof, if proof was want- 
ed, to show to the world the wholesale massacre of human 
beings for no other reason than that their invaders wanted 
their lands in the days of colonial upstarts and tyrants, and 
that a bloody drunken mob, armed with all the terrors of 
the law, — a law which has disgraced humanity, as it has 
been administered in Ireland — wanted the blood of their 
victims in '98. The innocent had no way of defending 
themselves from the wicked, cruel and despotic Cromwel- 
lian magistrates of Wexford. For those tyrants disgraced 
themselves as well as the government which armed them. 
Papist and rebel were the names which gave ferocity to 
those demons in human clothing. Their deeds will be re- 
membered long after they have lost their power in Ireland. 
The following is from an eye witness : 

" On the 25th of May, 26 farmers were placed in a dun- 
geon in Carnew, under an old castle, and a council of war 
was held at night by a drunken gang of Orange bacchana- 
lians, to decide on the speediest mode of executing them. 
On the following morning, oile hoary tyrant proposed 
to put lighted straw into the dungeon and suffocate them, 
to save powder and ball; however, the majority wished for 



258 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

the gratification of seeing the Papists die, and they were 
accordingly brought out in the morning and shot in a ball- 
alley." — Cloney, 

During this eventful period of Irish persecution, the 
courts of justice were no better than slaughter houses. 
AH law and humanity, religion and sympathy were forgot- 
ten by the blood-hounds of the ascendency party. The 
deeds of the Indian savages found no parallel in the wanton 
cruelty of the times. The law courts were open merely to 
record the deaths of the unfortunate victims who offended 
the oligarchy, or who had property to be confiscated. 
Blood and plunder prompted the blood-hounds of 1798 to 
fill the country with suffering and desolation. Their deeds 
of blood haunts the memory of the Irish with horror and 
revenge even to this day. Those deeds will yet- prompt 
Irishmen to gain their independence. 

We quote the following from McGee. McGee, speaking 
of the persecutions of the united Irishmen, says : 

'^ During the summer assize almost every considerable 
town and circuit had its state trial. The sheriff's had been 
carefully selected beforehand by the Castle, and the jurors 
were certain to be of the right sort, under the auspices of 
such sherifTs. Immense sums in the aggregate were con- 
tributed by the united Irish for the defence of their asso- 
ciates ; at the Down assizes alone, not less than seven or 
eight hundred guineas were spent in fees and retainers ; 
but at the close of the term Mr. Beresford was able to 
boast to his friend Lord Auckland, that but one of all the 
accused had escaped the penalty of death or banishment! 
The military tribunals, however, did not wait for the idle 
formalities of the civil courts." 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 359 

Soldiers and civilians, yeomen, and townsmen, against 
whom the informer pointed his finger, were taken out and 
summarily executed. Ghastly forms hung upon the thick- 
set gibbets, not only in the market places of the country 
towns, and before the public prisons, but on all the bridges 
of the metropolis. Many of the soldiers, in every military 
district, were shot weekly and almost daily for real or al- 
leged complicity with, the rebels. The horrid torture of 
picketing, and the blood-stained lash, were constantly re- 
sorted to, to extort accusations or confessions. Over all 
these atrocities the furious and implacable spirit of Lord 
Clare presided in council, and the equally furious and im- 
placable Lutrel, Lord Carhampton, as commander-in-chief. 
All moderate councils were denounced as nothing short of 
treason, and even the elder Beresford, the Privy Council- 
lor, was compelled to complain of the violence of his noble 
associate, and his inability to restrain the ferocity of his 
own nearest relatives — meaning probably his son John 
Claudius, and his son-in-law Sir George Hill. It was while 
this spirit was abroad, a spirit as destructive as ever ani- 
mated the councils of Sylla or Marius in old Rome, or 
prompted the decrees of Robespierre or Marat in France, 
that the genius and courage of one man redeemed the lost 
reputation of the law, and upheld against all odds, the 
sacred claims of personal liberty. This man was John 
Philpot Curran, the most dauntless of advocates, one of 
the truest and bravest of his race. " — McGee's History of 
Ireland, vol. 2, pp. 698-99. 

The courts of law, as we have said before, were mere 
slaughter tiousesi for after the defeat of the patriots in 
1798, Lord Norbury made a bloody record in history. He 



260 THE lEISH REPUBLIC. 

disgraced the ermine of the judge, as well as the govern- 
ment whose commission he used as the instrument of tor- 
ture and death. No eloquence could soften his heart of 
iron. No pity for his suffering victims ever found an em'o- 
tion in his cold-blooded and depraved heart. The tears of 
the widow he heeded not. In short, he was a monster, and 
a fiend in human clothing. It would appear as if he had a 
special commission from the prince of the lower regions to 
plague humanit5^ For no fiend could display more de- 
pravity of heart than this judge of the ascendency. His 
name will ever be associated with that of Nero and other 
bloody tyrants ! 

The following picture of the cruelties of the blood-stain- 
ed courts of law in Ireland, in 1798 and 1803, is given by 
O'Connell : 

" Why, on one circuit, " (during the administration of 
the cold-hearted and cruel Camden,) "there were one 
hundred individuals tried before one judge ; of these 
ninety-eight were capitally convicted^ and ninety-seven 
hanged ! I understand one escaped ; but he was a soldier 
who murdered a peasant, or something of that trivial na- 
ture — Ninety-seven victims in one circuit ! ! ! " — O'Con- 
nell's Speeches, vol. 1, p. 268. 

Such have been the feelings which have always actuated 
the motives of the true and patriotic Irish in America. 
Such the motives which make Irishmen oppose the English 
interests in America. Not only in Ainerica, but all the 
world over, at all times and under all circumstances. Such 
will be the noble and patriotic feelings and emotions of 
Irishmen until the green banner of Erin floats triumph- 
antly and defiantly over every sea in the world, from the 



THi; IRISH REPUBLIC. 261 

north pole to the south pole, and from the rising to the 
setting sun. The spirit of '98 stimulated and aroused the 
men of '48, and the men of '48 established the Emmett 
monument association. This association was inspired by 
the undaunted spirit of Tone, Emmett, and the patriots of 
'98. In 1858, John O'Mahoney became the president of 
the Fenians and head centre of all the members of the 
Brotherhood within the limits of New York city. In five 
years the society had branches all over the United States 
and in Canada. In 1863, the association was reconstructed 
on the model of the Republic of the United States. 

On November 3, 1863, a national convention of the Fe- 
nian Brotherhood was held in Chicago, where 62 circles 
were represented. This body formed a constitution and 
by-laws. 

They declared their " entire allegiance to the constitu- 
tion and laws of the United States of America. " That 
their object was " the national freedom of Ireland. " 
"That the Fenian Brotherhood is not a secret society." 
James Stephens was made the chief executive of the 
Irish Republic. 

The organization was under the direction of a Head 
Centre annually elected by the Fenian Congress. State 
organizations were directed by the State Centres, and Cen- 
tres were to direct Circles, and Sub-Centres were to direct 
Sub-Circles. The Congress nominated and elected a coun- 
cil of five, a central treasurer, assistant treasurer, corres- 
ponding secretary, and recording secretary. 

John O'Mahoney was elected Head Centre under the new 
constitution. This Congress issued a noble and patriotic 
address to the people of Ireland. 



262 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

The second national congress was held at Cincinnati, 
January 17, 1865. Three hundred branches were repre- 
sented. An address from the Fenians of Ireland showed 
that the people were ready for revolution — for raising the 
standard of liberty and for striking a blow at the ancient 
oppressors of Ireland — at that oppression which has been 
one unbroken bloody drama from the time that the first 
Saxon put his polluted foot on the sacred shores of Ireland, 
down to the years of Irish famine and extermination. Yes, 
since the minions of Heiirj^ II. cursed Ireland with their 
presence. Yes, this Henry II., who invaded Ireland under 
the false pretense of promoting religion and imparting to 
Ireland English civilization. That religion and civilization 
which England imparted to Ireland can be read in the Irish 
penal code ! ! 

Yes, in the reign of Henry VIIL, it was made a public 
offense to put more than seven yards of linen in a shirt. — 
Statute 28, Henry VIIL Blessed civilization, to steal a 
fruit, root, shrub, or vegetable from a garden, was punished 
with transportation. (Blackstone's Com., vol. 4, p. 234, 
and notes cited.) Even now Ave find some imperious and 
audacious flunkey tell us of the freedom of England — of 
the justice of English laws. Well, we give an instance of 
British freedom. Judge Perrin ordered the sheriff to ar- 
rest all persons for blowing their noses in the court room, 
in the city of Cork. 

On the close of the recent American war, thousands of 
young and ardent Irishmen, who had seen service in both 
the Union and Confederate armies, wished for the golden 
hour — the long Avished for opportunity, to give a death 
blow to the old foe of their dear fatherland. There were 



THE lElSH REPUBLIC. 263 

now many Irishmen in the United States, who wished to 
fight under the green banner of Erin, led by some general 
of tried courage and skill, to the tune of Irish martial 
music, to fight over the combat for freedom, and gain what 
was lost in '98. 

Public opinion in the United States favored war. The 
people expected that the Fenians would do something to 
dismember the British empire. The fighting element 
among the Irish and Irish sympathizers wished for the 
hour when they could say, " Perish the British Empire — 
live Ireland. " 

The oft repeated words of O'Connell : " Hereditary 
bondsmen, know ye not who would be free, themselves 
must strike the blow," was the motto of the military Irish. 
Such were their feelings on both sides of the ocean. It 
was said by the press of the United States and by the peo- 
ple of all classes, that something should be done for Ireland 
now or never. That speeches, resolutions and addresses 
should be followed by the cannon and the bayonet on the 
battle-field ! That the Irish should invade Canada. That 
by invading Canada they could strike a blow at the power 
of England on the American continent, and sever the 
British possessions from the crown of England. That Can- 
ada could be used as a basis for fitting out privateers to 
depredate on British commerce. That by severing one 
part of the British Empire it would humble the pride of 
England. That by the meaiis of privateers the Fenians 
could strike a blow at British commerce, the most vital 
part of British power. That if England lost her supremacy 
of the seas she would fall from her lofty pinnacle — that her 



264: i'HE IRISit HEPUBLld. 

fame and power would be a thing of the past — that sh^ 
would then be reduced to a fifth-rate power ! 

A rupture between the Brotherhood weakened the 
cause. The O'Mahoney and Roberts' wings spent some time 
in mutual recrimination. One party was for invading Can- 
ada, the other was opposed. Such was the temper of both 
wings, when a National Congress was held in New York, 
January 2d, 1866. A military convention was held in New 
York, February 22, 1866, on the anniversary of Washing- 
ton's birth-day. An address was signed by 85 officers and 
40 sergeants, who had served in the recent rebellion. The 
excitement grew more intense in Ireland. In 1866 one of the 
Fenian wings determined to invade Canada, because they 
were induced to believe that the United States authorities 
would not enforce the neutrality laws. They were made 
to believe that the United States would observe the neu- 
trality laws, in the same spirit as England herself did dur- 
ing the recent rebellion. That the authorities would not 
prevent the Fenians crossing over to Canada. That in 
short, the United States would recognize the Fenians as a 
belligerent power; as England had shown the precedent in 
recognizing the Confederates as belligerents. The small 
force of brave Fenians who invaded Canada covered 
themselves with honor. The United States authorities en- 
forced the neutrality laws and prevented the Fenians from 
reinforcing their comrades in Canada ; and so the enter- 
prise had to be abandoned. Had the United States gov- 
ernment allowed the Fenians to invade Canada at this 
time, they would have severed Canada from England ! But 
this invasion was not without a wholesome lesson to the 
old tyrants on the other side of the Atlantic. The London 



Tiniiss eveiij admitted that if the Fenians could land in Ire- 
land they could give England some trouble — I think they 
could. They would have severed the last link which binds 
Ireland to England. Had the Fenians an oppportunity to 
fight over Limerick and the Boyne, on a fair field, they 
would have humbled British pride. This Fenian raid into 
Canada, and the Clerkenwell explosion, humbled the En- 
glish oligarchy ! The fact that the Fenians extended to the 
four winds of heaven, alarmed the rulers of England. The 
dread of Fenian outrages spoiled the digestion of English 
lords. 

For the Fenian organization extended from pole to pole, 
wherever the exiled Irish resided. The organization be- 
came very extensive in England ; for there are now in En- 
gland over three millions of Irish or English-Irish (that is, 
Irishmen's children born in England). This Irish colony of 
workingmen have fraternized with the English Chartists, 
who number about three millions. Those six millions, with 
the liberal middle classes, have alarmed the old feudal Tory 
lords of England ! 

This act of blowing up the Clerkenwell prison, in the 
very city of London, alarmed the people of that great city. 
They were afraid that the next thing would be the burning 
of the fleet and the shipping in London and Liverpool with 
Greek fire or other inflammable substance. The days of 
the burning of London and the old gunpowder plot revived 
the nearly faded remembrances of those times. Alarm and 
fear haunted every mind. The fear of Fenians haunted 
the minds of the noble lords of England. They imagined 
what a frightful affair would it be if the parliament house 
should be blown up by horrible and hideous Fenians. They 



266 TH-E IRISH REPUBLIC. 

even feared that the Fenians would blow up Windsor Cas-> 
tie and the Queen's palace ! Oh, horror of horrors ! and 
all this within the pale of the very " wooden walls " of old 
England. This was more frightful than any invasion of 
foreign troops. For in that instance the foe would be met 
by the army and navy, and the militia. In such a crisis 
the fighting vv^ould, for some time at least, be outside of the 
city of London. The noble lords and their families would 
have time to get at a safe distance from the scene of 
slaughter. But what could be done if a multitude of Fe- 
nians should blow up the city in the night time. Then it 
v/as impossible to tell who were Fenians, as they were in 
the army and navy. Even they may bo among the Queen's 
life and body-guards. Even the royal nobles were not safe 
in Australia. The Fenians might even assassinate noble 
lords at watering places and other places of pleasure. 
Such were the fears that haunted the imaginations of the 
upper and ruling classes of England. The Manchester riots 
helped to increase the alarm. This fear caused the aristoc- 
racy to think it high time to do something for Ireland, 
The Grladstone ministry thought that if the government 
should abolish the established church in Ireland, that it 
would pacify the Irish. But, though meetings were held 
all over Ireland for the purpose of petitioning the govern- 
ment for the release of the Fenian prisoners, the govern- 
ment would not listen to their prayers, until the present 
Franco-Prussian war, and then not v»4th a good grace, but 
with odious conditions. 

They found that even the disestablishment of the Irish 
church did not put a stop to the agitation for nationality. 
They passed a kind of a tenant-right bill. But this, will 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 26 T 

not do. No country can be safe without independence. 
And indeed it would be better for England to give Ireland 
her freedom, for then she would not have to keep a stand- 
ing army whenever a few men organized together and 
made any kind of an attempt at revolution. It would be 
better for England to have Ireland as an ally than as a per- 
petual dissatisfied subject. We ask any candid man what 
would this country be if it had remained a British colony? 
Do not the English merchants make more money by trade 
and commerce with the United States than with Canada ? 
The government of England would lose more money by 
having British commerce suspended between the two coun- 
tries for six months, than if England lost all of her Ameri- 
can possessions. Now, if Ireland was free she would in- 
crease her trade and commerce, and in this way England 
would make more money in the end hj trading with Ire- 
land. She would be more x)owerful by having " no Ire- 
lancV^ to subdue, no Irish coast to guard, besides the jus- 
tice of the thing. Why should not nations be just as well 
as individuals ? Nature has ibrmed Ireland for a nation ; 
and a nation she shall be, no matter how long she remains 
in chains. 

It was this fear and not love that caused the English 
government to abolish the church establishment in Ireland. 
This was not done with a good" grace, for the most hateful 
of the Tories, with the old viper Derby at the head of 47 
peers, protested against the " disestablishment of the Irish 
church." He raised the. old " No Popery cry " — " The church 
is in danger." " That it interferes with private property. 
That it would tend to sever church and State, both in En- 
gland and Ireland." " That it alienates the Irish Protestants 



268 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

from loyal supj)orters of the crown." "That it gives a 
stimulus to the further demands of the Catholics.-' The 
dread of the military Irish in the United States will compel 
the oligarchy to grant tenant rights; not the present so- 
called tenant rights, hut something more substantial. The 
Irish in America who have seen service, no matter under 
what name or organization, will, when there is an oi:>j)ortu- 
nity, give a death blow to the power and despotism of En- 
gland. The Irish in the United States have a self-sustained 
and self-armed and equipped army ready to humble the 
" Britishers." Though the Irish may divide on the plan for 
the redemption of Ireland, on the main question, the liber- 
ty of Ireland, they are united. Let the United States make 
war on England, and it would unite the fighting Irish ele- 
ment all over the world. Can England be always at peace 
—certainly not. What of the Alabama claims, and the 
complications the future may bring forth ? 

The Fenians made a demonstration in Tipperary, Cork, 
Limerick, and Kerry. They were not able to organize in 
sufficient numbers to oppose the authorities. The Fenians 
must land in Ireland in force, with drums beating and col- 
ors flying. Then they can defy the spies and informers. 
In this way they can cause a general uprising of the peo- 
ple, with all the pomp of war ; they can defy all the power 
of England and her. perjured spies and informers, bribed 
and perjured judges and juries! But we cannot but ad- 
mire the valor, courage and patriotism of those noble Irish- 
men who crossed the Atlantic to peril their lives and lib- 
erty for the freedom of their native land. Such sacrifices 
keep alive the spark of patriotism in Ireland from genera- 
tion to generation* We want such men to keep alive that 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 269 

agitation which, in the end, will prove the overthrow of 
British power in Ireland. Any party that keeps alive the 
noble spirit of rebellion and opposition to England, is the 
friend of Ireland. Opposition to English interest all over 
the world, should be the policy of Irishmen until Ireland is 
free. England, which extols her free institutions—" the 
cradle of liberty " — "the perfection of human law" — yes, 
England boasts of the humanity of her laws and the bless- 
ings of British freedom, yet we behold a judge arrayed in 
wig and gown, with all the solemnity of law, trying some 
unfortunate wight under an indictment for a misdemeanor. 
Oh, what was the crime for which he was indicted and 
tried before a British judge? Lo, the unfortunate man 
had a rooster, which " croioed several times in twenty-five 
minutes ; " perhaps the noble bird disturbed some noble 
lord. Alas, for British freedom ! The mercy of the English 
laws did not extend to the Fenians. The Fenian prisoners 
in Canada were tried by a partisan judge and a packed 
jury. In Ireland the oligarchy at the castle resorted to the 
old game of packed juries to convict the leaders of the 
Fenians, and send them into penal servitude. This is En- 
glish mercy with a vengeance ! ! The cruelty of the Brit- 
ish government to the Fenian prisoners, has driven many 
of them mad. Yet, England is lauded to the skies by 
many flunkies. We hear of the Anglo-Saxons as the foun- 
ders of civilization — yes, that noble civilization which has 
driven the Fenian prisoners to insanity. Let England treat 
her state prisoners better before she boasts further of the 
humanity of the English laws ! England has treated the 
Fenians with the most fiendish cruelty and brutal despot- 
ism,, unworthy of the civilization of the nineteenth century. 



2li'0 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

Prisoners have been kept for days in damp and dismal 
dungeons, with their hands manacled behind their backs, 
both night and day, without even being loosened to take 
their food, but had to take it on " all fours. " " In fact, " 
said one of the prisoners, " they look upon me as a wild 
beast, and I am treated as such. " 

Another prisoner said, "This j)lace is killing me, God 
send it may soon." 

Many brave and noble Fenians were " slowly starved to 
death." Is this the way England should treat Irishmen, who 
have rendered her such noble service, in all her battles, 
from the famous battle of Cressy down to our own time. 
Yes, in all her wars Irishmen were found in the hottest of 
the fight! In the late expedition to Abyssinia, it was Irish- 
men who swept away the barbarians around Theodoras. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

England should learn that the spirit of liberty is not yet 
dead in Ireland. The amnesty meetings held, in 1869, in 
Ireland, for the release of the Fenian prisoners, were a de- 
fiance to England. Will not England take warning before 
it is too late. In 1869, the Castle oligarchy prevented a 
procession from marching in Dublin, because it was held 
on the very same day that O'Connell's Clontarf meeting 
was to be held. Well, perhaps England dreads the sacred 
soil of Clontarf. She may, some day, feel that the Irish, 
who drove the Danes into the sea, have inspired their de- 
scendants to emulate their example and drive the last Sax- 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 2^1 

bn invader into the sea ! No wonder that England should 
tremble at the name of Olontarf. She should tremble for 
her misdeeds, when she knows that God is just! 

Let British statesmen remember that as long as Irishmen 
are incarcerated in felons' dungeons — as long as their chains 
clank in the still midnight hours — while the prayers of 
millions of Irishmen are unheeded by the English govern- 
ment, it is in vain to talk of satisfying the people of Ire- 
land. England must do justice to the noble Irish patriots 
who have wasted their lives in penal servitude in England 
and Australia, for merely loving Ireland ! 

But the hirelings of the British press tell the world that 
the Irish are a lazy and dissatisfied people. That all their 
misery and poverty is caused by their own lack of industry. 
These are the falsehoods of a subsidized partisan press, 
supported by the government and the ruling classes. 
These abominable falsehoods are reiterated by every peri- 
odical, journal, pamphlet, novel, song book, almanac, 
school book, child's primer, song and sermon, hj those 
v/ho vdsh to keep the people of Ireland in chains, and ex- 
onerate England from blame. For though the English 
government plays the tyrant at home, it wishes to be con- 
sidered the special champion of freedom all over the world. 
By this vile system of cant and hypocrisy it has created a 
prejudice against the Irish in foreign countries. But not 
satisfied with this contemptible mode of disparaging every- 
thing Irish in foreign countries, they have inaugurated the 
same policy in Ireland, in educating the people, from Trini- 
ty College to the national schools. For the books used in 
those schools and colleges must not have anytfiing anti- 
English in them ; nothing in prose or poetry emanating 



21'^ TllE IRISH REPtfBLld. 

from Ireland's gifted poets or orators. But everything 
must tend to inspire the scholars with the vastness of the 
British empire, " over whose dominions the sun never sets," 
and with the might, wealth, power and resources of the 
British government and the freedom and prosperity of the 
English people. Even " the downfall of Poland " was con- 
sidered by one of the " fire-shoveled-hat " censors as too 
" dangerous for Ireland," and should be excluded from the 
schools. The sermon and song of those law and order ty- 
rants, would have the Irish love the English government 
and the castle oligarchy, landlords, greedy agents, bailiffs, 
police, spies, informers and blood-suckers, those wretched 
specimens of humanity, who betray their friends and coun- 
try for filthy lucre. Those miscreants who sell their liberty 
and the liberty of their country for British gold. Yes, 
Derby wonders why the Irish cannot be patient under the 
despotism of the rack-renting and tyrannical landlords. 
The landlords wonder why any person should be dissatis- 
fied with the "best government on earth." Well, perhaps 
it is the best government on earth for the Irish landlords. 
This " best government " gives the noble lords of Ireland 
power to clear their estates of all tenants at will — turning 
the fields of the tenants into pasture lands for the raising 
of fat cattle. Lord Derby evicted the tenants on his estates 
because they did not vote as the noble lord wished ! 

We will give a few extracts from the common form of 
leases in Ireland, as piiblished in the London Times : 

This lease given in the London Thnes^ is the same as 
that which is used on Lord Leitrim''s estates. The lease 
thus given «iby this noble lord is from year to year; it re- 
serves to his lordship all timber, so that if the tenant should 



I'HD IRISH REPtJBLlC. ^73 

plant a tree he could not cut it for his own use, unless he 
had a written permission from the landlord; it reserves 
bogs, mines, game, hares, rabbits, wild fowl and fish, so 
that all the fish and game is reserved for the exclusive 
benefit of the landlord and his friends, " his heirs and as- 
signs, his and their nominees, servants and followers." The 
landlord and his servants and agents can enter the lands of 
the tenants for the purpose of searching for minerals and 
making roads and drains. The tenant must have the per- 
mission of the landlord for making new roads, drains or 
fences. The tenant must keep in repair all buildings, with- 
out any recompense. He must " dig up and cut down all 
thistles, docks and other weeds before they go to seed, or at 
any time when desired to do so by the said Earl of Leitrim, 
his heirs or assigns, or his or their agent or other person 
duly authorized for the time being." 

The tenant is also " to assist to the utmost the said Earl 
in prosecuting trespassers." The tenant must " not at any 
time take, or suffer to be taken out, any dog or dogs, or 
destroy or injure, or suffer to be destroyed or injured, any 
game, or the eggs or young of any game, hares, or rabbits, 
or wild fowl," but must on the contrary, " preserve and pro- 
tect the same." 

If he does not comply with those conditions in his lease, 
(can it be called a lease?) he must pay this noble lord ad- 
ditional rent, called by the gentle name of liquidated dam- 
ages. 

The tenant, who has to comply with the above conditions, 
is not entitled " to any payment or compensation for any 
farm or other building, for agriculture or otherwise, or for 

any fixture or improvement of any description, unless 
35 



214: ^n^ iRisM REPUSLid. 

the making of such work or improvement shall have beeii 
previously stipulated for and specified by an agreement in 
writing." Should we wonder that the Irish should be dis- 
satisfied with a government which makes the landlords 
masters of the working millions of Ireland? Should we 
then wonder that the people of Ireland should wish for 
the golden opportunity to sever the last link that connects 
Ireland with England ? Yes, a connection more despotic 
than that of any other government on earth. 

The people of the United States are daily learning the 
true source of Irish grievances. They do not wonder that 
the Fenians wished to dismember the British empire. 
They do not themselves forget the "times which tried 
men''s souls. " They do not forget the war of 1812. They 
do not forget the Alabama question, unless it be the rich 
merchants who dread a foreign war lest they should be 
the losers of a few paltry dollars in their trade. The toil- 
ing millions of America sympathize with Ireland and her 
noble efforts, to free herself from the control and domineer- 
ing despotism of the British lion. What wonder that 
the Fenians should have extended to the four winds of 
heaven. 

In 1844, the English government, in the fulness of hu- 
manity and mercy to the tenants of Ireland, appointed a 
commission to inquire into the relations of landlord and 
tenant in Ireland. But strange to say, this commission 
was composed of Irish landlords. Those humane commis- 
sioners, the descendants, perhaps, of those noble worthies 
who composed " Cromwell's slaughter-house, " arrived at 
the following conclusions as to the manner of removing 
abuses : " The commission foresaw that there would be 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 275 

some danger for the just rights of property to grant, in 
full, tenant rigJit. " 

" Annexed will be found a statement proving that the 
consolidation of small farms, under eight acres, avouM ne- 
cessitate the expulsion of 190,368 families (at least a mil- 
lion of people). The commission consider that the remedy 
particularly applicable is emigration. " 

Those resolutions are held as divine authority by the 
British parliament. Those worthies of the " Cromwell's 
slaughter-house " school, were more unjust than their an- 
cestors ; for Cromwell's edict only banished Irishmen be- 
yond the Shannon into Connaught. But this commission 
would banish a million of Irishmen beyond the Atlantic. 
Yet we shudder at " midnight legislation, " and "agrarian 
outrages." 

In 1847, a committee of the British House of Lords, the 
ancient enemies of Ireland, came to the conclusion, no 
doubt after grave deliberation, after feasting on Irish beef, 
that some means should be employed to remove ih.Q}'- sur- 
plus of strong arms " from Ireland. Yes, the population 
of Ireland was getting too strong for the security of the 
empire ! But those nobles did not know to what part of 
the globe the " emigUfetion " should be directed. Certainly 
to the British colonies of North America, the East India 
Islands, New South Wales, Port Phillip, Southern Austra- 
lia, A^an Dieman's Land, and New Zealand, But they did 
not recommend emigration to the United States. Though 
they did not Avant the population of Ireland too strong, yet 
they wanted Irishmen in their army and navy, and in their 
colonies, to increase the wealth, power, and resources of the 
empire. Certainly, they did not want Irishmen in the 



376 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

United States, where they would become hostile to the 
British government, and add to the fighting resources of 
that rival country. They did not want Irishmen to go to 
the United States to help to build her cities, railroads, and 
other works of improvement. They did not want Irishmen 
to go to the United States to work the mines, to' clear the 
forests and cultivate the vast prairies. They did not want 
Irishmen to go to the United States to be merchant princes, 
judges, governors and congressmen. They did not want 
Irishmen to swell the army and navy of the United States, 
as officers and soldiers. For certainly they did not forget 
the whipping that Jackson gave the British soldiers at New 
Orleans. But the humane government was saved all trou- 
ble, for the famine of 1846-7-8-9 swept away millions of the 
people, while the hirelings of England, by the authority of 
Lord John Russell, took away by force the crops which 
would have supported more than double the population of 
Ireland, and gave the same to feed the people of England! 
This is the way that the British government got rid of the 
" surplus " population of Ireland ! 

But she will find that those Irishmen in the United States 
will never rest satisfied until they visit the desjDotic lords 
of England and Ireland with a terrible vengeance! 

It matters not about the names of the organizations, or 
who the men are that conduct them, for there is a noble 
disposition — a holy will pervading the hearts of Irishmen 
in the United States, which will teach the lords of England 
and Ireland that tyranny must be ]3unished. Let England 
be forced into another war, then we will find that Irish 
patriots in the United States, united, will strike for liberty. 
We will see Irishmen forsake the plow, the loom, the ax 



THE miSH REPUBLIC. 277 

and the anvil, and grasp the musket, the sword and the 
pike to fight for the cause of Ireland. England knows this, 
and is afraid to go to war. But to war she must go, willing 
or unwilling. 

The United States must have satisfaction for the Ala- 
bama and other claims, unless Grant proves a traitor to 
the country. England now rests on a magazine of " gun- 
powder ;" the first spark of war will ignite the same, and 
blow up the British empire. Yes, this empire Avill share 
the same fate as the empires of the past. This is the man- 
ifest decree of an all- wise and just providence. For, as we 
have said, a nation cannot be punished in the next world 
as a nation, so it must be punished in this world. England 
will be punished in this world for her manifest and mani- 
fold sins — unless her people overthrow the j)resent form of 
government. Kings and lords must be swept from off the 
shores of Engiand by the English democrats, and the stand- 
ard of freedom hoisted over the free republic of England. 
And Englishmen must recognize the Irish Kepublic. This 
alone will save England, in the coming storm ! Her sins 
are more enormous than the darkest deeds of Pagans or 
Mohammedans, ancient or modern. In vain do we look for 
such glaring sins among the Pagans of antiquity, or in the 
dark ages ! In the nineteenth century, of boasted christian 
civilization, we find that a coroner's jury rendered against 
the Prime Minister of Engiand a verdict of " tvilful mur- 
der ! " But the infamous Kobert Stewart, better known as 
Lord Castlereagh, who was the vile instrument of Pitt, the 
British minister, in the nefarious plot to steal away the 
Irish parliament, had told the rump, who committed this 
national suicide, that the prosperity of England would give 



378 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

prosperity to Ireland. But time now shows that in this 
prosperity England has had the lion's share ! This connec- 
tion has been fraught with all the miseries which one nation 
can visit upon another people. From this connection, Irish- 
men must and shall free their country. 

It is some satisfaction to Irishmen on this side of the 
ocean, that the spirit of liberty in Ireland is gaining 
strength. What a noble rebuke the noble and gallant 
men of Tipperary have given to the boasted freedom of 
the British constitution. Here we have O'Donovan, a Fe- 
nian prisoner, incarcerated in a British dungeon^ returned 
a member of parliament. What a bold rebuke this. What 
obloquy this heaps on the vile heads of the oligarchy and 
the worthless ascendency party. This is, indeed, retribu- 
tive justice ! ! 

" Oh, remember the days when their reign we did disturb, 
At Limerick and Thurles — Blackwater and Benburb ; 
And ask that proud Saxon if our blows he did enjoy, 
When we met him on the battle-field, in France — at Fontenoy. 
Then we'll up for the green, boys, and up for the green ! 
Oh, 'tis still in the dust, and a shame to be seen ; 
But we've hearts and we've hands, boys, full strong enough I ween. 
To rescue and to raise again our own unsullied green ! " 

— Spirit of the Nation. 

As Ave have said, England never yields any concession 
to Ireland but in the hour of her weakness, when she is in 
danger from foreign invasion, or when Europe is involved 
in war. She has kept the Fenian prisoners in vile dun- 
geons while Europe was in peace, but when the war clouds 
burst on the continent, when two great nations became in- 
volved in deadly conflict, when she feared that she would 
have to fight the Kussian Bear, when she dreaded another 
Sebastopol, when she feared that the Alabama claims 



•felE IRISii REfUBLlC. '21^ 

\vduld haVe to be settled by giving Canada to the United 
States, then, and only until then, did she think it prudent to 
release the Fenian prisoners. She would not extend to 
them a general amnesty ; oh, no ; but she banished them to 
America, where we hope they will give her some trouble. 
For though the Fenians have divided among themselves — 
though the late raid of 1870 into Canada was unsuccessful, 
yet time will give Irishmen an opportunity to gain their 
liberty. What strange things have transpired in the world 
in the last ten years ! What wonderful changes in the Uni- 
ted States ! What startling events in Europe ! Any per- 
son who would predict those events in 1860, would be con- 
sidered a fit inmate for a mad-house. What great events 
may yet happen before 1880, no one can venture to pre- 
dict. Who knows but Ireland may then be free. This 
should be a lesson to Irishmen not to despair of the ulti- 
mate freedom of their country. When Ireland will be 
hailed as the young Republic of the island of the sea. 

But from the many unsuccessful attempts at rebellion in 
Ireland, many well-minded and honest Irishmen have often 
said that it is impossible for Ireland to overthrow the gov- 
ernment of England, with her great wealth and military 
power. But we must remember that nations, like individ- 
uals, have their youth, manhood, maturity, and old age. 
In the pages of history we behold England in the prime of 
her youth, sending her mail-clad knights to the Holy Land. 
In her manhood she has fought from the plains of Cressy 
to the memorable fields of old Waterloo. In her old age 
she has been humbled at Sebastopol. Since then she has 
been standing on her dignity and living on the glory of the 
past, while other great nations have eclipsed her in power. 



280 o'SE Irish republic. 

The United States, Russia and Prussia have thrown her 
into the shade. No intelligent person can fail to see her 
fall. She may struggle on for a short time, but, sooner or 
later, she will have to abandon Ireland, as the Romans had 
to do when the Goths and Vandals overpowered their ar- 
mies, then the Roman soldiers had to leave the Britons to 
themselves. England should take warning from the fate 
of France. A few years ago. Napoleon III. said that France 
was able to defend herself against the world. Doubtless 
Napoleon built his castles in the air on the past glory of 
military France, and when the tug of war came, France 
was found unprepared for war. Nations cannot depend 
much on their past glory ; they must, like individuals, keep 
up with the times. They must prepare for war. England 
has now lost her old military glory — her glory is of the 
past. While she had Ireland to recruit her armies and 
navy she could defy the world. But in 1846-7-8-9, three 
millions of the toiling Irish, from whose ranks the govern- 
ment of England recruited her armies, disappeared from 
Ireland at least. Some died by famine; 'some found 
graves in the deep ocean ; others in the grave yards of Can- 
ada and the United States ; while the more fortunate found 
homes in free America. Since then it is difficult for En- 
gland to raise an army. For the famine and immigration 
have made wages higher in Ireland. This has enabled 
many Irishmen to leave Ireland for America, many of whom 
would otherwise be induced to join the English army. En- 
gland in this way has lost many Irishmen who would do 
her fighting. England's loss in this respect, is a gain to 
the United States. We say again, that it is no wonder that 
England should dread going to war. She cannot live on 



m^ misii Mp\]BLtc. 28 i 

the glory of the past. We see this from the fate of France. 
The only thing that can save England is to do one good act 
which will atone for the past ; that act is, to let Ireland have 
her own government — her own Republic. Let England 
hoist the standard of liberty, and demolish royalty and no- 
bility, and enter into a treaty with the Irish Republic, and 
then she can retain her former greatness. 

AFTEE THE BATTLE. 

" Night closed around the conqueror's way, 

And lightnings showed the distant hill, 
Where those who lost that dreadful day 

Stood lew and faint, but fearless still. 
The soldier's hope, the patriot's zeal, 

Forever dimm'd, forever cross'd — 
Oh ! who shall say what heroes feel, 

When all but life and honor 's lost ? 

"The last sad iiour of freedom's dream, 
And valor's task, moved slowly by. 
While mute they watched, till morning's beam 

Should rise and give them light to die. 
There 's yet a world, where souls are free, 
Where tyrants taint not nature's bliss — 
If death that world's bright opening be, 
Oh! wlio would live a slave in this?" 

—Moore. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

IRISH AIMERICANS. THE IRISH IH THE UNITED STATES. 

Irishmen in every clime — The fertility of Ireland — What 
nature has done for Ireland— Cruel laws — Penal laws — 
British policy — Irish exiles — Irish in America — Irish- 
American patriot] sm-r^TIie Declaration of Independence 
— The Constitution — Congress — The republican party — 
Irish parents — Irish authors — Counties — Puritans — Anti- 



282 THE IRISH EEPUBLIC. 

Catholics— The United Irishmen — Burning of Catholic 
churches — JSTative Americans — Know-Nothings — Repub- 
licans — Aristocracy — Democratic principles of equality — 
Self-made men — Irish valor — Fontenoy — Irish independ- 
ence — Irish aristocracy — Irish farmers in America^ — ^Tories 
— Native Americans — Monopolies — High tariffs — Irish 
character — Irish in the Atlantic States. 

We find our race in every clime, from the north pole to 
the south pole and from the rising to the setting sun. It 
seems as if cruel fate made Irishmen wanderers all over 
the world. Why is it, my countrymen, that the Irish have 
to abandon their homes to seek an asylum in eyerj country 
under the broad canopy of heaven ? 

Do Irishmen love their country ? For seven hundred 
years they have made incessant war on England. Is it that 
they are dissatisfied with her climate ? Why, the climate 
is the most pleasant and salubrious in the world! Is it that 
the soil is barren ? Why, Ireland is famed for her fertility. 
She is called the " Green isle of the ocean." " First flower 
of the earth, and first gem of the sea." 

-Her mountains can be cultivated even to their very sum- 
mits. Her farming produce is unequaled in the world. Is 
it for the want of minerals ? She abounds in rich mines 
of gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and coal, and some of the 
finest marble in the world. In some instances, her streets 
are paved with marble. In Kilkenny, the streets are paved 
with the best quality of marble. Is it that she is not 
adapted for commerce ? Her harbors are the most commo- 
dious in the world. She is favored by nature to be a great 
Commercial nation. Merchant ships from Liverpool pass 
by the ports of Waterford and Dublin. Wh4t, then, is the 
cause of this great Irish exodus ? Is it the want of love of 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 2So 

country ? The Irish are the most attached to their countr37^ 
of any peo]3le in the world. They do not want to leave 
their native soil, until forced from it by the cruel landlords ; 
and then they often in their " dreams sublime " revisit the 
land of their birth. Wherever the Irish immigrant makes 
a home, even though he may be blessed with affluence, his 
fondest hopes are to return to his native village to spend 
his last hours midst the scenes of his childhood. 

" And as a hare, whom hounds and horns pursue, 
Pants to the place from whence at first she flew, 
I still had hopes, my long vexations past, 
Here to return, and die at home at last." 

Why, then, do the Irish voluntarily exile themselves, to 
become strangers in a strange land ? 

" And thou thyself over every country sown, 
With none on earth that thou can'st call thine own." 

It is because the Irish people have been sutFering under 
the most cruel and systematic tyranny in the Avorld, from 
the days of McMorrough to Castlereagh. It is because of 
the misgovernment and oppression of Ireland. The usur- 
pation of England over the Irish parliament by Poyning's 
law and the act of .6th of George I., which bound Ireland 
by British statutes. By means of this legislative usurpa- 
tion, England was able to ruin the manufactures, trade and 
commerce of Ireland. The bloody penal statutes, and re- 
straint on commerce. A standing army ; the want of a 
habeas corpus. Ireland had been also cursed with a perma- 
nent mutiny bill, and the total deprivation of Catholics 
from holding any office of trust or honor, civil or military, 
under the Irish government. In the reign of the Protest- 
ant ascendency, the Catholics were treated as alien enemies 



384 THE IRISH EEPUBLIC. 

by the colonial parliament of the pale. They were put out 
of the pale of the British constitntion ! 

Under the statutes of William III., no Protestant in Ire- 
land was allow^ed to instruct a Papist, By the 8 Anne, no 
Papist was allowed to instruct any other Papist. By 7 
William III., no Papist was allowed to be sent out of Ire- 
land to be educated. Thus nine-tenths of the population 
were prohibited, by bloody penal statutes, from receiving 
an edtication. By the 8 Anne, a Papist clergyman com- 
ing into Ireland was hanged. Yet, England claims to be 
the cradle of liberty ; but w^hat liberty has she given to Ire- 
land ? Yet, the English government has the audacity to 
speak of the ignorance of the Irish. What wonder that a 
people who have suffered so much English persecution for 
seven hundred years should not have some ignorance 
among them ! The wonder is that they know so much. 
The colonial parliament, even under the lead of Grattan, 
and while battling for an independent parliament in 1782, 
would not grant equal rights to their Catholic countrymen ! 
In 1792, the Catholics presented a petition to the parlia- 
ment of the pale to obtain the elective franchise in this, 
so-called, Irish parliament, but the ojDposition was so pow- 
erful that it was rejected by a vote of 208 to 23. 

The British minister took advantage of the divisions 
among the people — between Catholic and Protestant ; be- 
tween the aristocracy and the people ; between patriot 
and courtier; between provinces, and even counties; 
between Orangemen and Ribbonmen, even down to parish- 
es, where factions met by appointment at fairs to fight for 
some obsolete idea or object. But in consequence of the 
"Repeal" organizations in Ireland, under the lead of 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 285 

O'Oonnell, when useful knowledge was imparted to the 
people by the repeal press and " reading rooms," the peo- 
ple learned the folly of those party fights. During those 
days the Dublin JSation helped to put a stop to those party 
lights at fairs and markets, which had divided the people 
and, gave strength to the enemy. Those party fights are 
now, thanks to providence, a thing of the past. We hear 
no more of " Three years and four years." The motto of 
the British government, since Henry II. landed in Ireland, 
has been " divide and conquer." They attempted to bribe 
the volunteers in 1782 ; for by bribery and corruption they 
stole the parliament in 1800, as before mentioned. They 
attempted to divide the Irish during the agitation for Cath- 
olic emancipation. They divided the United Irishmen aiid 
organized the Orange lodges ! The Irish had no rights 
which the English government thought proper to respect. 
Indeed, England showed more solicitation for a petty Ger- 
man principality (for which she has lavished both blood 
and gold) not as large as an Irish county, than for the wel- 
fare of Ireland ! 

Among the many immigrants who left their native soil 
to seek " that repose, which at home, they had sighed for 
in vain," were the Blakes and O'Donnells of Spain; the 
O'Neills and McMahons of France; the Nugents of Aus- 
tria ; the O'Higgins of Chili ; and the Lacys of Russia. In 
America we find the immortal Montgomery fighting for 
x\merican liberty, and against the tyranny of England, 
sacrificing his life at Quebec for American independence. 
We find honest and saucy Jack Barry, " father of the Am- 
erican navy ; " Gen. John Stark, John Sullivan, Anthony 
Wayne, Knox, afterwards secretary of war to President 



286 Tilt; IRISH REPUBLIC. 

Washington, and Gen. Conway, fighting for American inde- 
pendence. Daniel Carroll gave to Gen. Washington his 
farm for to locate the city of Washington. " The White 
House " is on the spot where the smoke of Carroll's chim- 
ney ascended over the blue waters of the Potomac ! One- 
third of the officers of the revolution were Irishmen or 
Irish- Americans. In the war of 1812, we tind the immortal 
Jackson and Commodore McDonnough thrashing the 
" Britishers. " 

In the Mexican war, Gen. James Shields, the Sarsfield of 
America, and the first soldier of his race, and Major W. 
A. Gorman, gained immortal fame. 

The Irish have distinguished themselves as brave sol- 
diers in all ages. Even the colonial writers of the pale 
have conceded to them this honOr, Spenser says : 

* * "That in all the services which they had seen 
abroad in foreign countries, they never saw a more comely 
man than the Irishman, nor that cometh on more bravely 
to the charge. " 

Where has there been an army in all Europe, which dis- 
tinguished itself, but Irishmen, also, displayed their cour- 
age and bravery — their achievements are world renowned. 
Irishmen received the badge of honor from Maria Theresa. 
Irish soldiers want nothing but fair play and no favors to 
distinguish themselves and win immortal glory on the 
battle field ! Yet England has invented the infamous lie — 
a mere slur : " That Irishmen make good soldiers abroad, 
. but bad soldiers at home." The history of Ireland gives 
the lie to the assertion, that the Irish are bad soldiers at 
home — if so, how is it that from the time of Henry II. to 
that of Henry VIII., after three hundred years of slaughter. 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 28T 

the English pale was confined to the limits of twenty miles 
around the city of Dublin. But the darling policy of En- 
gland is to underrate the Irish at home and abroad. Is it 
reasonable that those who are bad soldiers at home could 
make good soldiers abroad ? Absurd ! 

The New England Puritans should not forget that they 
owe a debt of gratitude to such eminent Irish- Americans 
as Governor Sullivan, who has become famous as the great 
projector of the Essex canal. They should be grateful to 
the memory of Bishop Berkeley, a native of Kilkenny, who 
donated to old Yale College, his farm and library. Bishop 
Berkeley was the author of the following lines, so often 
quoted : 

" Westward the Star of Empire takes its way,— 
The three first acts already past ; 

The fourth shall close with the closing day,— ' 

Earth's noblest Empire is the last. " 

We find that even old Faneuil Hall was built by an Irish 
architect. New York is indebted to Christopher Colles and 
Governor Clinton for the construction of the Erie canal, 
and for projecting the Croton aqueduct, all planned by 
their great ingenuity. 

The Declaration of Independence was printed by John 
Dunlap, an Irish-American. TJie Declaration of Independ- 
ence was signed by the following Irish- Americans : Mathew 
Thornton, for New Hampshire ; James Smith, for Pennsyl- 
vania ; George Taylor, for the same State ; George Read, 
for Delaware ; Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, for Maryland ; 
Thomas Lynch, jr., for South Carolina ; Thomas McKean, 
for Pennsylvania ; Edward Rutledge, for South Carolina ! 

Of the signers of the Constitution, the shield of civil 
and religious liberty, six Irish-Americans aided in that 



SSS TriE lEISil REPUBLIC'. 

noble work: Read, McKean, Jolin Rutledge, Pierce Butler, 
Daniel Carroll, and Thomas Fitzsimmons.' 

Among tlie senators of the first congress were Charles 
Carroll and Thomas Fitzsimmons ; in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, John Sullivan, George Read. On the supreme 
bench of the United States we find Judge Wilson. Other 
prominent Irish-Americans, though not in proportion to 
their constituents, held seats in congress! We must not 
forget Gen. Shields, who with great ability has represented 
two States in the Senate of the United States. W. A. Gor- 
man has also made his mark in congress, us an Irish-Amer- 
ican from Indiana. 

During the recent war the republican party did not want 
to promote Irishmen, They wanted them in the ranks, or 
in some place where thej would be overpowered by the 
Confederates. Yet Shields, GJorman, Corcoran, Meagher, 
and Mulligan, gained, despite of republicans, great honor 
and renown for Irishmen. 

Irish parents, in this countiy, should teach their children 
to believe that it is no dishonor to be an Irishman. Let 
them place before them the map of old Ireland ! Let them 
have in their book-cases the histories of Ireland. Place in 
tlieir hands the writings of eminent Irishmen, such as Grat- 
tan. Flood, Molyneux, Lucas, Swift, Burke, Sheridan, O'Con- 
nell, Curran, Mitchel, Meagiier, Phillips, and Barrihgton, 
and the sweet poetry of Moore, Goldsmith, and the lamented 
Thomas Davis. Let them read of Ireland's heroes, from 
Nial the Grand to Sarsfield. Let them read of the patriots 
Nappeh.' Tandy, Tone,' Emiliett,'knd Fitzgerald '; bf h-er emi- 
nent divines and missionaries, and they will find their sons 
Irish in heart and mind, who will be an honor to theiriioary 



'jtHE lElSa REPUBLIC, 2S9 

sires. The Irish should also take some newspaper devoted 
to Irish interest. Their Irish- American sons would profit 
so much from reading such papers — it would be an antidote 
against the mean slang which they read in newspapers and 
almanacs caricaturing or maligning Irishmen. Then their 
sons would not " bring down their gray hairs in sorrow to 
the grave." Irishmen's sons in New York, in' general, 
would feel insulted to be called anything but Irishmen ; 
for they find their countrymen rich and powerful in that 
great city, they find Irishmen distinguished as orators, law- 
yers, physicians, editors, and merchant princes — filling high 
stations, from judge to policeman! 

Irish parents should never talk disrespectfully either of 
Ireland or Irishmen before their children, who swallow 
such tales, which make a lasting impression on their young 
minds, and engenders contempt both for their parents and 
everything Irish. This has made many young Irishmen 
disown their country ! 

But unfortunately for the Irish, they never leave their 
native land, from their great attachment to the old chapel, 
where they were initiated into the bosom of the church, — 
the old school-house where they spent happy days with 
brothers, sisters and playmates ; the old family residence, 
where dwelt father, mother, brothers and sisters enjoying 
that holy bliss which requires an Irish heart to appreciate 
and enjoy, and the old church yard, where lies the ashes of 
their kindred for centuries, and which nothing in the world 
could make Irishmen abandon but the cruel and tyranni- 
cal law%of England, and the despotism of relentless land- 
lordism, until they are penniless, when they are compelled 
to look for employment wherever it can be had. They 
37 



290 THE IRiSil RlittlJBLIC. 

have to begin a new life, in a new world, without capital. 
Had they left Ireland before their means were exhausted, 
they could come out west and settle down on land. 

Another source of evil to Irishmen is the foolish preju- 
dice growing out of a distinction on account of provinces 
and counties. This has been handed down from tradition- 
ary prejudices growing out of the wars of the Irish kings 
and chiefs. The Irish should remember that this has been 
Ireland's greatest source of evil, as those wars distracted 
and divided the Irish kings, who, had they been united, 
could have defied the power of England ! 

" And wtile your tyrants joined in hate, 
You never joined in love." 

The monarchs of England, from Henry II. down to Queen 
Victoria, took advantage of the mutual jealousies and 
divisions of the people, who, from those local prejudices, 
on account of counties and provinces^ breed feuds from 
which no good can result, and which every good man 
should frown down. 

" There had been, or were, ' White Boys,' and ' Right 
Boys ' — ' Caravats ' and ' Shanavests ' — ' Thrashers ' and 
'Carders' — 'Hearts of Steel ' — 'Peep-o'-Day Boys' — 'De- 
fenders ' — ' Orangemen ' and ' Ribbonmen.' " 

But we find local prejudices among the Highland and Low- 
land Scotch- — in England we hear the term " Cornish 
Knave ^'' and '■'•Yorkshire hites^ We find this feeling ex- 
isting between the Eastern and Western people, and a 
strong Southern feeling against the " Yanks." In Boston, all 
are supposed to be barbarous outside of the " hti'^.^^ In 
New York, all are considered " rural districts " outside of 
the cities of New York and Brooklyn ! 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 291 

It has been said that a bad subject makes a bad citizen. 
It has even been said that the Irish are very bad subjects 
at home. It is proverbial to say : " it broke out like an 
Irish rebellion." But if we examine the bloody penal code 
of Ireland and England, we will not wonder that the Irish 
are rebellious. The laws of England, as administered in 
Ireland, were not fit to make the Irish loyal ! No peoj)le 
under heaven are more attached to the Constitution of the 
United States than the Irish ; no people love liberty and 
equality better than they do ! 

Let us revert to the history of the United iStates : 

The people of Massachusetts always entertained the most 
unjust and absurd ideas of Irish inferiority. They have 
imbibed this prejudice from reading British histories and 
British authors — and from a national and religious feeling, 
they had proscribed and caricatured everything Irish. 

For, as we have said, the British writers have made it a 
study to misrepresent Irishmen and everything Irish. Their 
histories and newspapers have teemed with the most unjust 
falsehoods against Irishmen and Ireland. Unfortunately, 
those lies have been taken as good authority in the United 
States. No wonder that the American people should en- 
tertain the most unjust prejudices against the Irish, when 
we remember the source of their information and knowl- 
edge. But for the past few years this prejudice has been 
on the wane. 

" During the reigns of James I., Elizabeth and Cromwell, 
pamphlets defaming the Irish were constantly issuing from 
the press of England. These pamphlets were issued in 
periods of strife, for the purpose of palliating, before the 
more humane portions of the people of England, the atro- 



292 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

cities of their agents and armies in Ireland. For sixty 
years these pamphlets continued to be issued in England; 
not one of them but contained willful, detailed falsehoods. 
Even John Milton blotted his pages with enormous calum- 
nies on the Catholics, and retained vigor enough to abuse 
the Irish Presbyterians in his old age. Throughout the last 
centuries, the English historians copied into their books 
the wretched effusions of these party pamphleteers. The 
English acts of parliament, through every preamble and 
clause, contained calumny and abuse of the Irish. And 
from these lying pamphlets, and lying acts of parliament, 
has the history of England relating to this period been com- 
piled. Those things were encouraged, for it was comfort^ 
able to them to hear ill names applied to a race they had 
robbed and slaughtered. Those calumnies worked into 
the histories of England. Falsehoods once brought into 
life take ages to die. English conversation, literature, 
public documents, all convey a disparaging account of the 
resources, milit'ary achievements, and abilities, of the Irish, 
Of course this is done to discourage all attempts of the 
Irish people to recover their independence." — Mooney, vol. 
1, pp. 743-4. 

Penn,in 1708, wrote, from London, to Logan, not to suffer 
public mass in Pennsylvania. 

In 1725, a meeting was held in Massachusetts Bay, for 
settling the town. It was resolved, that no alienation of 
lots be made without the consent of the community. 

In 1720, the general government of the colony resolved, 
that recent families from Ireland be ejected by the Attor- 
nej General. 

Governor Gordon and council prohibited the erection of 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 293 

a Catholic church, in Walnut street, Philadelphia, in 1734. 
The Federal party were the friends of England, while the 
Democrats were anti-British. 

The headquarters of the United Irishmen was at Phila- 
delphia, in 179T". In 1798, John Adams caused the enact- 
ment of the infamous alien law, so as to intimidate the 
United Irishmen. Rufus King, American Minister to Lon- 
don, refused passports to Emmett and Macneven ; this in- 
fluenced the Irish feeling against John Adams and the Fed- 
eralists. 

In 1834, the fanatics of Boston burned the Convent of 
Charlestonj Massachusetts. 

In 1844, the Native Americans had organizations in all 
the great cities. Their principles were, 

1. "That no foreigner should be natufalized under a 
residence of twenty-one years. 

2. " That the Catholic religion was dangerous to the 
country. 

3. " That the Protestant scriptures should be the founda- 
tion of all the common school education." 

This year the Native Americans burned the Catholic 
churches in Philadelphia. The Native American party 
failed in 1846. 

On the demise of the old Whig party, the Know-Nothing 
party was organized in 1853; in 1855 it swept over the 
country like wild fire. In 1856, Mr. Fillmore was their 
candidate for president. Buchanan beat him, as well as 
the Republican candidate, Fremont. Henceforth we find 
the Know-Nothing party fused with the Black Republicans. 

The Catholics of Maryland were liberal in extending 
their hospitality to the oppressed of the other . colonies. 



294 THE IRISH REPUBLIC, 

The old Puritans of New England, although they had to fly 
from persecution from England to the wilds of America, 
yet when they had power in their own hands, they drown- 
ed, hanged and burned witches, and expelled Roger Wil- 
liams, the Quakers, and all who differed with them in poli- 
tics or religion. The Catholic Irish of Maryland invited 
the oppressed from New England to come to their colony 
and enjoy civil and religious liberty and equality. The 
Know-Nothings of Baltimore should not forget this. 

In 1852, when Bishop Hughes was asked what was the 
position of the Catholic clergy in the Presidential election, 
the Bishop said that the church did not take part in poli- 
tics. That the church in the United States had all the lib- 
erty she wanted. 

The great trouble is, that Americans look through En- 
glish glasses at everything Irish. 

What a pity that the Irish, who are so quick of percep- 
tion, with an acuteness which makes them formidable in 
debate — with manners open and generous, high spirited 
and liberal, independent, enthusiastic, patriotic, cordial, 
open, joyous, sensitive, and ardent, should be influenced 
by the aristocracy. 

In 1798, in the memorable Wexford rebellion, the Irish 
gave the command of 30,000 men to Begnal Harvey, be- 
cause he was a man of wealth. He remained an idle spec- 
tator on a hill while the patriots were fighting the battle 
of Ross! 

They gave the command of 124,000 men, brave Irish vol- 
unteers, in 1782, to Lord Charlemot, who delivered them 
to the British government. 

Ireland had too many aristocratic patriots. This has 



'flJE IRISH liEPUBLIC. 295 

caused her ruin. Even in this country, we find manj'' 
Irishmen who look with disdain upon those who have been 
j)oor, or who have worked themselves up from poverty and 
obscurity. They should overcome this foolishness. The 
Catholic church has no aristocracy. The road to prefer- 
ment is talent, worth, piety, and popularity. Bishop 
Hughes had to work with the spade in early life. Bishop 
Becket and Cardinal Wolsey worked their way up from 
humble stations to be the most eminent luminaries of the 
church. 

With such examples before Irishmen, let them not despise 
any one because he had to work for a living. We must ' 
follow the example of our American neighbors, who take 
their leaders from the humble walks of life. Their self- 
made men — the Washingtons, Henrys, Jacksons, Web- 
sters, Clays, Fillmores, Lincolns and Johnsons. 

President Lincohi was a rail-splitter, Fillmore a wool- 
comber, and Johnson a tailor, and Henry Clay was the 
poor "miller boy of the slashes." The Irish must prize 
talent, honor, and honesty more than wealth ! 

" When Adam delv'd and Eve span, 
Where was then the gentleman ?" 
" 0, ■woman of three cows, agragh ! don't let your tongue thus rattle ! 
O, don't be saucy, don't be stiff, because you may have cattle ; 
Your neighbor's poor, and you it seems are big with vain ideas, 
Because, forsooth, you've got three cows, one more I see than she has ; 
That tongue of yours wags more at times than charity allows, 
But if you're strong, be merciful, great woman of three cows." 

English tyranny and misrule banished Irishmen to the 
continent to Avhip the British lion at Fontenoy. Irishmen 
helped to whip England in the revolution of 1776 ! Hickory 
Jackson whipped the British army at New Orleans. And 
the brave Irish who fought in the recent rebellion, will 



W6 THE IKIStl REPUBLIC. 

gain Irish indejjendence. An Irish Republic. The democ- 
racy of both England and Ireland should gain the freedom 
of both countries. They should join hands together to 
abolish royalty and aristocracy. Let the English Tory gov- 
ernment and the landlords of Ireland tremble, for their 
reign will soon end ! 

" But brighter days must surely come, than those that we have seen, 
When all her sons may proudly sing, ' the wearing of the green.' " 

We have before remarked that the Irish of this genera- 
tion have seen the folly of petty divisions, caused in a 
great measure, by the government of England fostering an 
anti-Irish faction, who sustain the English interest in Ire- 
land. This faction has been the ruling power in Ireland 
until 1849, when many of the aristocracy lost their estates 
under the encumbered estate law ; many of them are now 
homeless, while their tenants are prosperous farmers in , 
America. Many more of their Irish tenants should come 
to this country, where they can get farms cheap, and where 
they can aim to thwart the anti-Irish faction even in this 
country. For since the days of the revolution there has 
been a party in the United States, whose aim and object 
and darling policy has been to establish the British consti- 
tution and laws in the United States. The old Tories fought 
against Washington and his army, in the field. They were 
the spies and instruments of the British Generals in the 
days of the revolution. When victory perched upon the 
banners of the revolutionary fathers, those Tories had to 
change their party name, but they did not change their 
princij)les. Henceforth they became the leading spirits of 
the old Federal party, until that I3arty became odious, in I 

consequence of the alien and sedition laws. But though 



THE IRISH lifiPUBLIC. 2^1 

they have chaiiged their party name from time to time, the 
better to delude the people, yet they were anti Irish, and 
were opposed to foreigners in some manner or another. 
They wanted to keep foreigners twenty-one years in this 
country before they could have a vote. The native Amer- 
icans and Know-Nothings wanted to exclude Catholics from 
holding offices. The Whigs were in favor of high tariffs 
and all kinds of monopolies. All those parties who op- 
posed the Democratic party were for making the rich richer 
and the poor poorer, — one and all they were the advocates 
of class legislation. The Irish, at home, had suffered, for 
centuries, from the oppression of the penal code, high 
tariffs, and monopolies. They had fought for generations 
against British despotism — they had been excluded at home, 
under the penal code, from the benefit of the laws. They 
could hold no office, civil or military, under the tyranny of 
the colonial tja-ants. What wonder, then, that they should 
join that party, in the United States, that advocated relig- 
ious liberty, and that was in favor of extending to foreign- 
ers the same political rights and equality as that of the 
native Americans. This is the reason that the Irish are 
Democrats, in the United States. For they love liberty, 
equality, and fair play. This has been conceded to them, 
even by the colonial writers of the pale. Sir John Davis, 
an Englishman, who Avas then an Attorney General of the 
pale, says : 

" There is no nation of people under the sun that doth 
love equal and indifferent justice better than the Irish." 

Again, one of the great lights of British jurisprudence 
gives us a fair representation of the law-loving character 
of the Irish, when they see the law administered in equity 
38 



298 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

and justice. When they see that the government and the 
la\ys protect all classes, the rich and the poor alike. This 
great authority is no less a personage than Lord Coke. 
This is his testimony : " There is no nation of the christian 
world that are greater lovers of justice than the Irish." 

Thus we find that even Englishmen themselves bear 
witness to the law-loving spirit and character of the Irish. 
In the, United States, the Irish have been found among the 
most zealous upholders of the constitution of the United 
States. So they ought, for it is the greatest shield of civil 
and religious liberty. What wonder, then, that the Irish 
should have united with that party in the United States, 
that extends to all civil and religious liberty. That party 
that is opposed: to great monopolies and high tariffs. That 
party which has always guaranteed to all civil and re- 
ligious , liberty — the friends of the foreigners and stran- 
gers. The Irish in the Atlantic States should come in 
greater numbers to the West, while homesteads and cheap 
lands can be got. For farming is the surest and safest 
business in the world. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

'rHE ANGLO-SAXON RACE NOT THE FOUNDERS OF CIVILIZATION. 

The nations that flourished before the time of the Anglo- 
SaxOns — Ancient civilization— The Saxons in Britain^ — 
Saxon laws — Witchcraft — James I. — Witches put to 
death — Blackstone — British despotic laws — Meetings 
supiiressed— -Martial law — Vagrants put to death — Queen 
Bess— ^The common law suspended in England — Star- 
Chamber---Brandiug and cutting the ears ofi' — The Sax- 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 299 

ons conquered by the Danes— France — Saxons conquered 
by William — The Saxons reduced to slavery — The French 
language introduced into England by the Normans — The 
wars in Palestine — Portuguese — The British and Ameri- 
can press — Ireland's struggles for liberty — Napoleon- 
Missionaries — The French and SjDaniards— The English 
army in Spain — The Danish tleet^ — Hessians— Irish pat- 
riotism — The Irish of Maryland — The Declaration of In- 
dependence — Carroll of Carrollton — Irishmen in the 
American army — Emmett's epitaph — The hope of Ire- 
land's freedom — Irish, not Anglo-Saxon. 

British statesmen, the British press and British authors, 
have persistingly endeavored to impress on the world the 
idea of the superiority ' of the Anglo-Saxon race over all 
other races! That the Anglo-Saxon race is the parent of 
civilization. That England is the " cradle of liberty." The 
Americans, in a degree, have entertained and cherished 
the same idea from reading British history. In short, many 
of our public men, and literati, never let slip an opportuni- 
ty to let us know that they are Anglo-Saxon Americans. 
England, when she failed in the war of 1812 to subjugate 
the United States, contented herself by impressing upon 
the Americans that they are cousins. Though a few years 
ago, the London Times said that the Americans were 
composed of "cheating Yankees, stupid Dutchmen, and 
beggarly Irish." But now they want to delude our Ameri- 
can statesmen into a British alliance ; when they find their 
power on the wane. Indeed, they have both abused and 
flattered the Americans, as policy dictated. 

Let us review the ancient history of the world, and we 
behold what noble deeds were achieved before this Anglo- 
Saxon race left the woods of Germania. We behold the 
empires of Assyria and Babylon, the kingdoms of the Medes 



300 THE IKISH REPUBLIC. 

and Persians, in flourishing splendor before the time of the 
so-called Anglo-Saxon civilization; we behold the Chal- 
dean shepherds making vast and rapid strides in the pro- 
gress of the noble science of astronomy. But they were 
not Anglo-Saxons. Were the Hebrew inspired writers An- 
glo-Saxons? Egypt, the cradle of civilization, arts and 
sciences, and letters ; where we behold with wonder her 
monuments of ancient arts — her pyramids, artificial lakes, 
subterranean temples, and sphinx, ere the great Persian 
monarch Cambyses marched armies over the graves of her 
kings. But Egyptian civilization was not Anglo-Saxon. 
We read of the commerce and opulence of Tyre and Sidon 
— of the discoveries of Phoenicians and Carthagenians; but 
they were not Anglo-Saxon. Nimrod, a mighty warrior, 
and the first king, was not an Anglo-Saxon. 

The Greeks, from being savages and barbarians, became 
noble workers of civilization — famous in the arts and sci- 
ences, poetry, and oratory — Greece was the land of the war- 
rior and statesman ; but they were not Anglo-Saxons. Cad- 
mus, the Phoenician, who introduced letters into Greece ; 
Cyrus and Alexander, mighty warriors ; Solomon and So- 
lon, the wisest of men ; Josephus, Herodotus, Thucydides, 
Homer, Demosthenes, historians, poets and orators — were 
not Anglo-Saxons. Thebes had her hundred gates — Solo- 
mon's temple was built — Rome had her aqueducts, her 
Coliseum, her Catacombs, her Appian Way, her palaces 
and her temples, with a population of seven millions within 
her gates, when Caractacus was led naked through the 
streets of Rome. 

A few shepherds collected on the banks of the Tiler 
fin4 built the city of Rome, The disaffected from other 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 301 

towns of Italy joined them — they laid the foundation of 
the mighty commonwealth. The Roman eagles were tri- 
umphant over the world, even to the four winds of heaven. 
Rome became the mistress of the world. She imparted to 
the barbarians her language, laws, customs and civiliza- 
tion. Where was then the Anglo-Saxon race ? When the 
Roman legions landed in Britain they found not a civilized 
nation, but a band of untutored, naked savages, with their 
skins painted like the " first natives " of America ! Carac- 
tacus, when led naked through the streets of Rome, could 
not but admire the splendor of the " Eternal City." The 
Roman forum resounded with the voice of Cicero and 
with the classic beauty of his oratory, C£esar and Pompey 
were warriors of renown, when the Saxon race was naked 
in the wilds of northern Europe; but they were not Anglo- 
Saxons ! Hannibal marched his army over the frozen 
Alps ; but he was not an Anglo-Saxon ! 

The Saxons were invited over by the Britons, as 
friends and allies, but they broke faith, and like true barba- 
rians, turned their arms against the Britons and drove them 
to the mountains of Wales. They were broken up into 
petty clans — imbruing their hands in brothers' blood — un- 
til subdued by one rival and successful prince. The histo- 
ry of the Anglo-Saxons is replete with cold-blooded mur- 
ders, rapine, robbery, predatory war, infanticide, fratricide, 
a-nd Punic faith ! The Saxon laws were a bloody code — 
savage and cruel. A few extracts will prove this. 

The English have lauded the- Saxon laws, liberty, and 
civilization to the skies. They have attempted to make 
the world believe that the Anglo-Saxons are the parents of 
civilization. The Americans, of New JEngland extraction, 



302 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

pride themselves on being Anglo-Americans, and, to cap 
the climax, we have the sublime Negro rejoicing in the 
new-fangled name of Anglo- African. Now, let us revert 
to some of the Anglo-Saxon laws, and we will find them 
barbarous and inhuman, and not reflecting much on the 
humanity and civilization of the Anglo-Saxons ! 

" If anyone took a stranger into his house for three nights, 
he made himself responsible for his acts — if he committed 
any crime, he became a pledge for him." 

If a man killed a guest, his death was compensated by 
paying eighty shillings; for killing the king $300. For 
cutting off an ear, twelve shillings ; '' for striking out an 
eye, fifty shillings." For a wound one inch long, one shil- 
ling. For violating the king's maid-servant, fifty shillings. 
For adultery, the offender was to buy the husband another 
wife ! " A thief who was caught in the act of stealing, 
might be killed with impunity if he attempted to escape." 
A thief accused of theft was to lose a hand or foot ;" on a 
second conviction he was hanged. " None were to escape 
punishment who were above the age of twelve, or who 
stole above the value of twelve pence." " The accomplices 
and aiders of thieves were subject to the same penalties 
as thieves themselves." If a family were privy, they were 
all made slaves. 

If an offender fled from justice, and was not found for 
thirty days, he was outlawed, and any one might kill him if 
he made resistance. An outlaw was called in Saxon, wolf's- 
head, which meant that any one might kill him the same 
as a wild beast. Sacrilege was punished with the loss of 
the hand that had committed the offense. Any breach of 
the peace in a cathedral church incurred the penalty of 



THE IRISH Republic. 303 

death. By a law of Alfred and Edgar, " a spreader of false 
reports was to lose his tongue." If any one was present 
at the death of a man, he was looked upon as '■'■ particeps 
criminis.'''' By the law of Ina, who suffered a thief to escape 
was to paj'- the were orforgyld of the offender. Whoever 
suffered a thief to escape without making liutesium et cla- 
m.ore^ was to suffer the punishment of the thief if he 
could not purge himself. Perjury was punished with the 
loss of the hands. Every member of a thithing was an- 
swerable for the good conduct of the rest. The ordeal 
called Jtidicium Dei^ was performed by fire and water. 
The fire ordeal was performed by walking barefooted over 
a certain number of burning ploughshears, or by carrying 
a bar of red-hot iron in the hand for a certain distance. If 
the accused came off unhurt, he was declared innocent. 
By the water ordeal, the accused was tied hand and foot 
and thrown into a pool of water ; if he floated he was jdi'o- 
nounced guilty, if he sunk he was innocent. In per- 
forming the hot-water ordeal, the accused was to plunge 
his hands up to the wrist in boiling water. — Wilkin's col- 
lection of Anglo-Saxon laws. 

Witchcraft was another peculiar institution of Anglo- 
Saxon civilization. Poor and decrepit wretches were put 
to death on the frivolous charge of conversing with the 
devil. To be old, poor, and infirm was enough to make one 
a witch. Persons suffered death on the charge of witch- 
craft, even in the time of Lord Hale. 

" When James I. ascended the English throne, he unfor- 
tunately conceived it to be his duty immediately to illumi- 
nate the southerners on the subject of witchcraft. An 
act of tlie first year of his reign defines the crime with a 



304 ?i:HE lEisit KEPUBLid. 

degree of minuteness worthy of the adept frohi whose peri 
it undoubtedly proceeded. 'Any one that shall use, prac- 
tice, or exercise any invocation of any evil or wicked spirit, 
or consult or covenant with, entertain or employ, feed or 
reward, any evil or wicked spirit, to or for any purpose ; 
or take up any dead man, &c., &c., &c. ; such offenders, 
duly and lawfully convicted, and attainted, shall suffer 
death.' We have here witchcraft first distinctly made, of 
itself, a capital crime. Many years had not passed away 
after the passing of this statute, ere the delusion, which 
had heretofore committed but occasional and local mis- 
chief, became an epidemical frenzy, devastating every cor- 
ner of England. Leaving out of sight simple executions, 
we find such wholesale murders as the following in abun- 
dance on the record : 

" In 1612, twelve persons were condemned at once at Lan- 
caster, and many more in 1613, when the whole kingdom 
rang with the fame of the 'Lancashire witches;' in 1622, 
six at York ; in 1634, seventeen in Lancashire ; in 1644, 
sixteen at Yarmouth ; in 1645, fifteen at Chelmsford ; and 
in 1645 and 1646, sixteen persons perished in Suffolk, and 
nearly an equal number at the same time in Huntingdon. 
These are but few selected cases. The poor creatures, who 
usually composed these ill-fated bands, are thus described 
by an able observer: 'An old woman with a wrinkled 
face, a furred brow, a hairy lip, a gobber tooth, a squint 
eye, a squaking voice, or a scolding tongue, having a rag- 
ged coat on her back, a spindle in her hand, and a dog by 
her side — a wretched, infirm and impotent creature, pelted 
and persecuted by all the neighborhood, because the farm- 
er's cart had stuck in the gateway, or some idle boy had 



^EE IRISit REPUBLIC. 305 

pretended to split needles and pins for the sake of a holiday 
from school or work ' — such were the poor unfortunates 
selected to undergo the last tests and tortures sanc- 
tioned by the law, and while tests were of a nature so 
severe that no one would have dreamed of inflicting them 
on the vilest of murderers. They were administered by a 
class of wretches, who, with one Matthew Hopkins at their 
head, sprung up in England in the middle of the seven- 
teenth century, and took the professional name of witch- 
finders. The practices of the monster Hopkins, who with 
his assistants moved from place to place in the regular and 
authorized pursuits of his trade, will give a full idea of the 
tests referred to, as well as of the horrible fruits of the 
witchcraft frenzy in general. From each town which he 
visited, Hopkins exacted the stated fee of twenty shillings, 
and, in consideration thereof, he cleared the locality of all 
suspected persons, bringing them to confession and the 
stake in the following manner: He stripped them naked, 
shaved them, and thrust pins into their bodies to discover 
the witch mark ; he wrapped them in sheets with the great 
toes and thumbs tied together, and dragged them through 
ponds or rivers, when, if they sank, it was held as a sign 
that the baptismal element did not reject them, and they 
were clear, but if they floated (as they usually would do 
for a while) they were then set down as guilty, and doom- 
ed; he kept them fasting and awake, and sometimes inces- 
santly walking, for twenty-four or forty-eight hours, as an 
inducement to confession ; and, in short, practiced on the 
accused such abominable cruelties that they were glad to 
escape from life by confession. If a witch could not shed 
tears at command (said the further items of this wretch's 
39 



306 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

creed), or if she hesitated at a single word in repeating the 
Lord's x^rayer, she was in league with the evil one. The 
results of these and such like tests were actually and uni- 
versally admitted as evidence by the administrators of the 
law, who, acting upon them, condemned all who had the 
amazing constancy to hold out against the tortures in- 
flicted. Few gave the courts that trouble. Butler has 
described Hopkins in his Hudibras, as one 

' Fully empowered to treat about 
Finding revolted witches out, 
And has he not within this year 
Hang'd three score of them in one shire ? 
Some only for not being drowned ; 
And some for sitting above ground.' 

After he had murdered hundreds, and pursued his trade 
for many years (from 1644 downwards), the tide of popular 
opinion finally turned against Hopkins, and he was sub- 
jected, by a party of indignant experimenters, to his own 
favorite test of swimming. It is said that he escaped with 
life ; but, from that time forth, he was never heard of again, 
" The era of the Long Parliament was that, perhaps, which 
witnessed the greatest number of executions for witchcraft. 
Three thousand persons are said to have perished during 
the continuance of the sittings of that body, by legal exe- 
cutions,*independently of summary deaths at the hands of 
the mob. Witch executions, however, were continued with 
nearly equal fi'equency long afterwards ; one noted case 
occurred in 1664, when the enlightened and just Sir Matthew 
Hale tried and condemned two women, Amy Dunny and 
Rose Callenderj^ at Saint Edmondsbury, for bewitching 
children, and other similar offenses. Some of the items of 
the charge may be mentioned : Being capriciously refused 



THE IBISH REPUBLIC. 307 

some herrings, which they desired to purchase, the two old 
women expressed themselves in impatient language, and 
a child of the herring dealer soon after fell ill — in conse- 
quence. A carter drove his wagon against the cottage of 
Amy Dunny, and drew from her some not unnatural ob- 
jurgations; immediately after which, the vehicle of the 
man stuck fast in a gate, without its wheels being impeded 
by either of the posts, and the unfortunate Amy was cred- 
ited with. the accidents. Such accusations formed the bur- 
den of the ditty, in addition to the bewitching of the 
children. These young accusers were produced in court, 
and, on being touched by the old women, fell into fits. 
But, on their eyes being covered, they were thrown into 
the same convulsions by other parties, precisely in the same 
way. In the face of this palpable proof of imposture, and 
despite the general absurdity of the charges. Sir Matthew 
Hale committed Amy Dunny and Rose Callender to the 
tender mercies of the hangman." * * * " In 1711, 
Chief Justice Powell presided at a trial where an old wo- 
man was pronounced guilty. The judge, who had sneered 
openly at the whole proceedings, asked the jury if they 
found the woman ' guilty upon the indictment of convers- 
ing with the devil in the shape of a cat ? ' The reply was, 
' We do find her guilty of that ; ' but the question of the 
judge produced its intended eff"ect, in casting ridicule on 
the whole charge, and the woman was pardoned. An able 
writer in the Foreign Quarterly Review remarks, after no- 
ticing this case, ' Yet, frightful to think, after all this, in 
1716, Mrs. Hicks and her daughter, aged nine, were hanged 
at Huntingdon, for selling their souls to the devil, and rais- 
ing a storm by pulling off their stockings and making a 



308 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

lather of soap ! With this crowning atrocity, the catalogue 
of mnrders in England closes.' And a long catalogue, and 
a black catalogue it was. Barrington, in his observations 
on the statute of Henry VII., does not hesitate to estimate 
the numbers of those put to death in England, on this 
charge, at thirty thousand ! " — Chambers' Information for 
the People, vol. 2, pp. 331-2. 

33 Henry VIIL, C. 13, maliciously striking in the king's 
palace, wherein his royal person resides, whereby blood is 
drawn, is punishable by perpetual imprisonment, and a fine 
at the king's pleasure ; and also with loss of the offender's 
right hand, the solemn execution of which sentence is pre- 
scribed in the statute at length. — Blackstone, vol. 4, p. 121. 

The statute 8 Elizabeth, 0. 3, makes the " embarking of 
sheep on board of any ship," imprisonment for one year, 
" and at the end of the year to have the left hand cut off 
in some public market, and shall be there nailed up in the 
openest place." — Blackstone, vol. 4, p. 154. 

Even in Blackstone's time it was death to break down 
the mound of a fish-pond, " whereby any fish shall escape ; 
or to cut down a cherry-tree in an orchard." — Blackstone, 
vol. 4, p. 3. 

In the Isle of Man, to steal a pig or fowl was punished 
with death. — Blackstone, vol. 4, p. 16. 

The statute 4 George II., C. 32, to steal turnips, potatoes, 
cabbages, parsnips, peas, or carrots, was punished with a 
fine and whipping. — Blackstone, vol. 4, p. 233. 

It was necessary to have a freehold estate worth one 
hundred pounds per annum to be privileged to kill a par- 
tridge. — Blackstone, vol. 4, p. 175. 

The statute 5 George III,, 0. 14, the penalty of transpor- 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 309 

tation was inflicted, for seven years, for stealing or taking 
a fish. — Blackstone, vol. 4, p. 236. 

"The slaughter of a beast was made almost as penal as 
the death of a man." — Blackstone, vol. 4, p. 415. 

By the laws of the old Britons, a woman was burned for 
the murder of her husband. — Blackstone, vol. 4, p. 203. 

The punishments were " mutilation or dismembering, bj^ 
cutting off the hands or ears ; others fix a lasting stigma on 
the offender, by slitting the nostrils, or branding in the 
hand or cheek, * * whipping, hard labor in the house 
of correction or otherwise, the pillory, the stocks, and the 
ducking stool." — -Blackstone, vol. 4, p. 376. 

Yet, Blackstone speaks of the glory and wisdom of the 
English law.— Blackstone, vol. 4, p. 17. 

^.- -/.- a'ji^e court must pronounce that judgment which 
the law hath annexed to the crime,"" * * u -which extend 
to the life of the offender, and consist generally in being 
hanged by the neck till dead, though in very atrocious 
crimes other circumstances of terror, pain, or disgrace are 
superadded ; as in treason of all kinds, being drawn or drag- 
, ged to the place of execution ; in high treason, affecting 
the king's person or government, emboweling alive, be- 
heading, and quartering ; and in murder a public dissection. 
And, in case of any treason committed by a female, the 
judgment is to be burned alive." — Blackstone, vol. 4, p. 376. 

We will here insert a few brief extracts from Hallam's 
Constitutional History of England, to show the despotism 
of British monarchs, in the so-called land of English freedom, 
shown towards their own people. 

This ought to teach the liberal English the curse of 
monarchy in all ages. They see that the yoke of despotism 



310 THE IRISH REPLfBLIC. 



was on their own necks as well as on the necks of the Irish. 
This should teach them the importance of abolishing kingly- 
power and of establishing an English Kepublic ! 

" Even the king's clemency seems to have been influ- 
enced by the sordid motive of selling pardons; and it has 
been shown that he made a profit of every office in his 
country, and received money for conferring bishopricks." 
— Hallam's Constitutional History of England, j^age 20. 

" A single suspicion in the dark bosom of Henry VHL, a 
single cloud of wayward humor in his son, would have been 
sufficient to send the proudest peer of England to the dun- 
geon and the scaffold." — Hallam's Constitutional History of 
England, p. 43. 

Speaking of the courts of law in the reign of Elizabeth, 
the same candid author says, thus : 

"I have found it impossible not to anticipate, in more 
places than one, some of those glaring transgressions of 
natural as well as positive law, that rendered our courts of 
justice, in cases of treason, little better than caverns of 
murderers. Whoever was arraigned at this bar, was almost 
certain to meet a virulent prosecutor, a judge hardly dis- 
tinguishable from the prosecutor except by his ermine, and 
a passive, pusillanimous jury." — Hallam's Constitutional 
History of England, p. 139. 

The reign of Queen Elizabeth is also famous, in the an- 
nals of English history, for the institution of martial law, 
to punish the poor and needy, and the homeless stranger. 

" No other measure of Elizabeth's reign can be com- 
pared, in point of violence and illegality, to a Commission 
in July, 1595, directed to Sir Thomas Wilford, whereby, upon 
no other allegation than that there had been of late sundry 



tTHE imsa REPUBLIC. Sll 

great unlawful assemblies of a number of base people in a 
riotous sort, both in the city of London and the suburbs, 
lor the suppression whereof (for that the insolency of many 
desperate offenders is such, that they care not for any ordi- 
nary punishment by imprisonment) it was found necessary 
to have some such notable rebellious persons to be speed- 
ily suppressed by execution to death, according to the jus- 
tice of martial law, ' he is appointed Provost Marshal, with 
authority, on notice by the magistrates, to attach and seize 
such notable rebellious and incorrigible offenders, and in 
the presence of the magistrates to execute them openly on 
the gallows.' The commission empowers him, also, ' to re- 
pair to all common high-ways near to the city, which any 
vagrant persons do haunt, and, with the assistance of jus- 
tices and constables, to ajDprehend all such vagrant and 
suspected persons, and them to deliver to the said justices, 
by them to be committed and examined of the causes of 
their wandering, and finding them notoriously culpable in 
their unlawful manner of life, as incorrigible, and so certi- 
fied by the said justices, to cause to be executed upon the 
gallows or gibbet some of them that are so found most no- 
torious and incorrigible offenders ; and some such, also, of 
them as have manifestly broken the peace, since they have 
been adjudged and condemned to death for former offenses, 
and had the queen's pardon for the same." — Hallam's Con- 
stitutional History of England, pp. 143-4. 

Here we have from competent evidence the cruelty of 
" good queen Elizabeth," suspending the common law of 
England that she may, by her barbarous edict, which is un- 
paralled in ancient and modern history, execute on the gal- 
lows, on the mere certificate of a justice of the peace, all 



312 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

persons about London suspected of vagrancy — all poor 
persons to be butchered in cold blood ! 

What wonder that England has persecuted Ireland, when 
we behold an English queen ordering the butchery of En- 
glishmen because they were poor. Oh ! the boasted cra- 
dle of liberty. The noble Anglo-Saxon race ! Oh ! horrors 
hail ! When will such hypocrisy end ? When will this 
cant about the cradle of liberty cease ? When England is 
a Kepublic! 

We have the evidence of this impartial writer on the 
despotism of the Star-Chamber : 

"It was held competent for the court to adjudge any 
punishment short of death. Fine and imprisonment were 
of course the most usual. The pillory, whipping, branding, 
and cutting off the ears, grew into use by degrees." — Hal- 
lam's Constitutional History of England, p. 257. 

" One man was fined and set in the pillory for engrossing 
corn, though he only kept what grew on his own land." — 
Hallam's Constitutional History of England, p. 257. 

Had we not such undoubted authority before us we could 
not believe that an English court would punish a man in 
the pillory for simply holding over his corn until he got a 
better price for his grain — the produce of his labor. This 
is the record of the land of freedom. What would one of 
our farmers tliink if his ears were, cut off for a like 
offense ? 

The Saxon people were divided into freemen and slaves. 
Her slaves or villains, were in the lowest state of degrada- 
tion, being bought and sold with tlie land. They were not 
considered any better than cattle. — Vide Dr. Wilkin's Col- 
lection of Anglo-Saxon Laws. 



^HE IRISH S,EPUBL1C- 313 

It was death to cut down the mounds of a fish-pond, or 
to cut a cheny tree ! 

It was lawful not only for a husband to whip his wife, 
but he could sell her, the same as his horse or ox ! 

The hardy Scandinavian pirates conquered the Saxons 
and lorded it over them, until under Alfred (who got his 
education in the mountains of Connaught, and there ac- 
quired a knowledge of trial by jury, the greatest bulwark 
of human liberty), they again recovered their lost liberty. 

Babylon had her walls, canals, hanging gardens, magnifi- 
cent temples, while Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian 
empire, flourished before the Anglo-Saxons. 

Mohammed, a mighty warrior, had subdued the east ; his 
followers passed over into Europe, where they were defeat- 
ed by the immortal Charles Martel ; but he was not an 
Anglo-Saxon. 

The Celtic Frenchman subdued the Saxons in one decis- 
ive battle, and put a saddle on the Saxon's back, which he 
never got ofi"; but they were not the Anglo-Saxons! 

The Norman lords reduced the Saxon villains to slavery 
— they were bought and sold with the lands as a chattel — 
they had to perform the most abject and degrading work — 
and while the Norman nobleman lived in splendor. The 
Saxon cowherd fed the flocks for his Norman master. The 
French language was spoken, in the churches, in the 
schools, and in the courts of law. " Jack would be a gen- 
tleman if he could speak French." 

It was the Plantagenets who carried the cross of St. 

George into the fields of Palestine ! It was the Norman 

English who made war on France, gaining many brilliant 

victories. It was the Norman English who conquered 

40 



814 ■ Mm tut&E aist»tJBiic. 

Wales land Scotland and invaded Ireland, without a 
standing army, public debt, or paper money^ bribery or 
corruption ; they were not Anglo-Saxons, 

The Portuguese discovered the vast continent of Africa ; 
the rich and fertile Indies ; Columbus discovered America, 
and Magellan sailed around the world. Where were then 
your Anglo-Saxons ? 

The Portuguese, Spaniards and French made vast strides 
in their discoveries in the New World, while the Anglo- 
Saxons were buried in ignorance. Euclid, Givia, (an Ital- 
ian, who invented the mariner's compass, in the fourteenth 
century,) Raphael and Angelo, the greatest masters in 
painting, Des Cartes, the famous French philosopher, and 
Galileo, the distinguished Italian astronomer, were not 
Anglo-Saxons. Charlemagne, Tamerlane, and Genghis 
Kahn, were not Anglo-Saxons. The clouds of darkness 
which hung like the pall of death over Europe, after the 
fall of the Roman Empire (476), was dispelled by the re- 
vival of the Greek and Roman classics; the science of 
arithmetic and algebra was introduced into Europe by the 
Moors ; but it was not the work of Anglo-Saxons ! 

The perfidious, cold-hearted and bloody Saxons robbed 
and oppressed the Irish, and then taunted them with their 
poverty. They banished the school-master and sent him 
"abroad," and then reviled the Irish and said they were; 
ignorant. The lying anti-Irish bigots have availed them- 
selves of every opportunity to slander the Irish, in poetry, 
periodicals, and newspapers, almanacs, and in low come- 
dies. " The mercenary press which they pay, does exhibit, 
I think, a little too much contempt for the English under- 
standing. The Courier, for example, begins the week with 



THE IRISH BlffUBLIC, 316 

some egregious lie or other; the writers are aware that its 
falsehood will be discovered hy Thursday ; but on Thurs- 
day they are prepared with a second lie, which will last till 
Saturday, when lie the third is coined ; and the English — 
the most thinking English — swallow with the same unabat- 
ing credulity, the first, second, and third of these lies, and 
are prepared to commence the ensuing week with an un- 
abated appetite for falsehood !" — O'Connell's Speeches, vol. 
1, pages 218-19. Their American cousins have copied 
from England, and even some Americans are as abusive 
and slanderous as the English Anglo-Saxons ! 

We hear, on this side of the Atlantic, by our so-called 
Anglo-Americans, who cousinize 'with England, that we 
have inherited from England our laws, language, and re- 
ligion. It is painful to witness the vile slang against 
Irishmen, in this country, in family newspapers, and nearly 
in every almanac. This is one of the causes which makes 
Irishmen so unpopular in this country. Lying British wri- 
ters, and their toady worshippers on this side of the Atlan- 
tic, have caused all of this. Irishmen should impress on 
the minds of the youth that it is no disgrace to be an Irish- 
man. That a respectable, educated, and moral Irishman is 
the peer of any man. Irishmen should never say anything 
disparagingly of their dear old country.. They should never 
feel ashamed of the land of their birth, which has strug- 
gled seven centuries against British tyranny. When we 
look back at the powerful nations of antiquity that suc- 
cumbed to the conqueror, Babylon, Persia, Egypt, Greece, 
Kome, Carthage, England, Wales and Scotland, we cannot 
but admire the indomitable and noble spirit of the Irish 
Celtic race, struggling for liberty, after years of bondage 



316 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

and slaughter. No wonder we would exclaim "^ God save 
poor Ireland." 

Napoleon rose from being a corporal to be the arbiter of 
Europe, who handled crowns as so many toys. The splen- 
dor of his achievements dazzled Europe ; but he was not 
an Anglo-Saxon. 

The French missionary fathers who explored the Great 
Lakes and the Mississippi, and the vast empire of North 
America- — Oortez and Pizarro, whose noble deeds are more 
romantic than romance itself — ^they were not Anglo-Saxons. 

England has acted the pirate in seizing by force and vile 
fraud the foreign possessions of other European powers. 
She has acted the highwayman of Europe. She has broken 
faith whenever she could do so with impunity. While her 
armies were in Spain she blew up Spanish factories, so as 
to weaken the power of Spain. She has aided and abetted 
the Spaniards of the new world to revolt from the mother 
country, so that she could destroy the Spanish empire and 
have a monopoly of the trade of South America. 

O'Connell, speaking of the rapacity of the British gov- 
ernment, says : 

"For a specimen of their morality, take a few transac- 
tions of this war — a war carried on for the preservation of 
justice, social order, and religion ! Well, in this just and 
religious war, the English attack, plunder and murder a 
people with whom they are then at peace! Without a 
shadow of any provocation, they, in the midst of peace, 
steal the Danish fleet, burn the Danish capital, and mas- 
sacre, even to the infants in her foundling hospital ! But 
this is not all. This atrocious crime for which England will 
be ever execs^ated^ and will, probably, be punished— this 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 317 

atrocious crime is now followed by a formal treaty with 
Sweden by which England sanctions the robbery of an en- 
tire kingdom. Sweden has no more right to Norway than 
Napoleon to London ; yet the English give her Norway ! 
What would they say if Napoleon were now to make a 
present of Ireland ? Sweden is the good ally of England. 
Such good friends ought to make near neighbors ; and Ire- 
land would, I think, suit Swedish purposes as well as Nor- 
way. Such is the morality of England, that she has afford- 
ed the example that would justify the transfer of her own 
dominions to foreigners." — O'Connell's Speeches, vol. 1, p. 
314. 

No wonder Napoleon Bonaparte should call the English : 
" A nation of shop-keepers and traders, who were ready to 
sacrifice conscience, honor, and everything else for the 
sake of pounds, shillings and pence. They regulate their 
principles according to their interest, and, unlike the 
French, they never fight for an idea, nor disinterestedly 
championed for the cause of the oppressed." The brave 
Lafayette left the splendor and magnificence of Paris to 
share in the hardships of Democratic America, in the cause 
of liberty ; he was not an Anglo-Saxon. Louis XVI. fur- 
nished an army, a navy, money and clothing for the cause 
of American liberty; he was not an Anglo-Saxon, 

The barbarous and slavish Hessians fought against Amer- 
ican liberty ; they were of the Saxon race ! 

The heroic Richard Montgomery, who fought and bled at 
Quebec, was a noble Irishman. Generals Stark, Sullivan, 
Wayne, Conway, and Commodore Jack Barry, the father 
of the American navy, were Mahmen and Irish-Americans. 
Governor Sullivan, of Massachusetts, who projected the 



318 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

Middlesex canal, was an Irish- American. Governor Clinton, 
who projected the Erie Canal, was also an Irish-American. 
Robert Fulton, who ran the first steamboat, in France and 
the United States, even in the world, was an Irish- American. 

The Irish Catholics in Maryland were the first people in 
the world to proclaim universal liberty of conscience ! they 
were not Anglo-Saxons. 

What is the Declaration of Independence but an exem- 
plification of the ideas of Molyneux and Lucas. The Dec- 
laration of Independence, the great charter of human 
rights, was first signed by Carroll of CarroUton. We find 
eminent Irishmen in the convention that framed the Con- 
stitution of the United States. We find able and eminent 
Irish-Americans in the great councils of the nation. The 
most eminent luminaries of the American bar are Irish- 
Americans. The Emmetts, the O'Connors, and O'Gormans. 
In the war of 1812, the brave Commodore McDonnough 
gained signal and important victories, on the Lakes. Irish 
blood flowed in the cause of America. The brave, noble, 
and patriotic Jackson whipped the " Britishers " at New Or- 
leans ; James Shields, the Sarsfield of America, maintained 
the fame of the Irish who fought at Fontenoy, by his noble 
deeds, on the plains of Mexico. But they were not Anglo- 
Saxons. But in the recent rebellion, which was in the 
hands of the old Puritans, who always hold Irishmen and 
everything Irish in contempt, the Puritans did not want to 
promote Irishmen, but they wanted them to do the fighting 
and marching, while the Radicals had the sole monopoly 
of the ofiices, civil and military, fat army contracts, and 
the commissary department. They would not promote 
General Shields, the only man who whipped Stonewall 



WIE lEISM EEPlJBLtC. 310 

Jackson ; but tliey promoted Mulligan after his death ! It 
is pleasing to behold so many Irishmen filling important 
offices of trust and honor — to see so many possessing broad 
acres and occupying the field of commerce with merchant 
princes. But this should not be the only ambition of Irish- 
men. 

Neither is it to wear the robes of the senator, nor the 
ermine of the judge, nor to become a millionaire, and to 
live retired in a palatial residence. For an Irishman will 
not be duly respected while his country is under the iron 
hoof of despotism. The holiest and noblest ambition of 
an Irishman is to see the glorious Sun-burst emblazoned on 
the immortal green flag floating over the Castle of Dublin. 
" The green above the red." 

To have Ireland take her place among the nations of the 
earth — Then Emmett's epitaph can be written. Let no 
Irishman ever despair of the freedom of his country. 

The Irish- Americans should oppose British influence in 
this country. There seems to be a mania with some flunk- 
ies to adopt British laws, customs, and prejudices on this 
side of the Atlantic. The Irish should avoid those toadies 
and flunkies. 

How pleasing it is to see an Irish family with the map of 
old Ireland, the history of Ireland, the poetical works of 
Moore, the easy numbers of Goldsmith, the classic speech- 
es of Burke, and the patriotic writings of Swift, Molyneux, 
Lucas, Grattan, Curran, O'Counell, Meagher, Mitchell, Duffy 
and Barrington. Irish-Americans who read such works 
both love Ireland and hate English despotism. Irishmen 
on this side of the Atlantic will yet cripple the power of 
England, and give the British lion a deadly wound. The 



320 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

storm of war is gathering thiciv and fast around the shores 
of old England ! 

" The banners of all nations are unfurled, 
She has one foe and that one foe the world." 

England's downfall is at hand. Her troubles are aug- 
mented by her own sons. Her only hope — a Republic ! 

" Her very children watch for her disgrace — 
A lawless crew, and curse her to her face." 

As England descends in the scale of nations, Ireland's 
star will then shine more resplendent. 

" Erin, oh, Erin, tho' long in the shade, 
Thy star shall shine out when the proudest shall fade." 

Providence will reward the Irish for their great struggles 
against the powers of England, for seven hundred years. 
The Anglo-Saxons prefer ease under despotism — they bar- 
ter their liberty for paltry wealth ; but Irishmen will never 
submit to despotism — their sole pride is to see their coun- 
try free and England reduced to a fifth-rate power, unless 
she does justice to Ireland and establish a Republic; then 
Irishmen will forget the past. 

Yes, Irishmen can never cease their opposition to En- 
gland until they have revenge for the years of bondage and 
slaughter which England has inflicted upon Ireland. Let 
us hope on, hope ever, for the freedom of our country ! 
We say again, let the government of England do justice to 
Ireland, and Irishmen will forget the past. 



*Hi; lEisii iiEPUBLic. 321 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE ALABAMA CLAIMS — BEITISH DEPREDATIONS ON AMERICAN 
COMMERCE. 

The British government jealous of American prosperity — 
The Tory party in England hostile to Republics — " Orders 
in Council " — The right of search — English war vessels 
search American vessels — Insults to the American flag 
— ^The Federal party — The " dominion " — The war of 1812 
— The Hartford Convention — -Jackson at New Orleans — 
Decline of the Federal party — The Whig party — The 
Prince of Wales — British privateers — Depredations on 
American commerce — England prolonged the recent war 
— Burning of the Caroline — England violates the neu- 
trality laws — England violated the treaty of 1783 — Mili- 
tary posts — England incites Indians to murder Ameri- 
cans — Fenians — The Red River affair — Claim for the 
burning of the Caroline — British possessions must be 
given to the United States — The United States must own 
all of North America — British gold — The High Commis- 
sion — Codfish aristocracy — England has no just right to 
her possessions in North America — Mexico — Grant's ad- 
ministration. 

Great Britain has, since the Americans gained their inde- 
pendence, been jealous of the growing prosperity of the 
United States. Her commercial greatness has interfered 
with the monopoly of England, which has been a source 
of displeasure to British merchants on the other side of 
the ocean. The Tory party in England has always shown 
both secret and open enmity toward all republics, but 
especially that of the United States, The British govern- 
ment, of the "high Tory school," never let slip an opportu- 
nity to cripple American commerce, as her darling policy 
has always been monopoly; to make all the nations of the 
earth subservient to her factories and work-shops, her looms 
41 



•3^^. " THE IRISH REPUBLIC- 

and cotton goods. In 1809, the government of England 
j)assed the infamous " Orders in Council," preventing Amer- 
ica, then a neutral and friendly power, at peace with 
botli '^FtMi-fee'^'and England, from trading to the ports of 
France. This was in violation of the law of nations. Her 
wa-yships^eized, captured and condemned American ves- 
sStefbr" disobeying those orders, in violation of the public 
l^wbT' Europe. Since 1803, several American vessels had 
h&8± captured by British war vessels. England also claim- 
ed^';|he right of searching American war ships, contrary to 

Oil ' 

tlie law of nations. An English war ship, Leopard, attack- 
ed and boarded an American war frigate, the Chesapeake, 
on the high seas; many of the men on board were killed 
or wounded. This outrage took place within a few miles 
of the American coast, in defiance of the American flag ; 
the British officers took therefrom four men — thus show- 
ing great contempt for the Republic of the United States, 
and the law of nations and the rights of neutral powers. 

In 1809, the British government, by its agent and sup- 
pliant instrument. Sir James Craig, Governor of Canada, 
sent one John Henry to intrigue with the leaders of the 
Federal party, in New England, to sever the New England 
States from the Union, and unite the same with Canada 
and the other British possessions of North America, as a 
new kingdom on this continent; as a "Dominion," to be 
ruled by a scion of the House of Brunswick ! 

This and various other causes led to the war of 1812. 

During that- eventful war, England made a free use of 
the Tory Blue Light Federalists of New England, who abet- 
ted and aided the government of England. They met in 
convention at Hartford, December 14, 1814, and passed in- 



THE IKISH RliPUBLIC. 323 

famous and treasonable ' 'i-'6s'ol'u'tions. They lioTsied' llie 
"five striped flag" and the "black do'ckaLde!""Tlifeir ciy 
wns then the Potomac the boundary,' ahd'the 'ka,ve States 
by themselves ; the Alleghanies the boundary, the savages 
by themselves. But Jackson, who showed tli^ JSritish'sbt- 
diers'the use of cotton and gunpowder, gained over them 
a'd^'cisive victory at New Orleans; and England' had to re- 
lintitiish her policy and monopol3^ and silently waited for 
an opportunity to depredate on American commetce. 
' 'Thei Blue Light Federalists became odious. Tliey drop 
ped their party name, and assumed the more plausible and 
seductive name of Whig; but on the defeat of that party!, 
they hoisted the Kepublican banner and changed ' tlieir 
naiWe. ' England, finding that she could not conquer Amer- 
ica,' resorted' to fraud and division. Her press encour- 
aged' the polifidal warfare between the extrernists'of "the 
North ' and 'SOtith, and by such means brought on ilfe 
recent war 'between the States. She fed and fostered and 
encouraged' th^ sectional party here that brought oh the 
Ti^alr— her "hbpes being to dissolve the Union. Td'dazzlie' 
th^ '^ye's of the aristocracy of the United States, aiid' pre- 
pare the Way for the " Dominion," she sent over the Prihcd 
of 'Wale's 'to m'ake a tour through Canada and the Uhitled 
States.' ' Fot th6 purpose of injuring the United States and' 
to 'estiabli^h the new kingdom of Canada, she built th6 
Grand T'ni7ik Bailroad to connect the waters of the At- 
lantic and Pacific, as a channel for the commerce of the' 
East Indies, China, Japan, and Australia! Her favorite 
design has always been to sever the Northern and South-' 
em States. That after the States had a couple of civil 
wars they would gladly come under the rule of the House 



324 THE IRISH KEPUBLIC. 

of Guelpli — so that England would have a powerful ally on 
the continent of America. 

The South would not have raised the standard of rebel- 
lion but for the encouragement given by England. En- 
gland also prolonged the war by her blockade runners; 
the negotiation of Southern bonds ; the moral influence of 
the British press; supplies of arms and munitions of war; 
the destruction of American commerce by piratical ships ; 
and by prolonging the war, which cost the sacrifice of 
thousands of lives North and South, East and West, and 
the creation of a mountain of debt, which bears hard on 
the industry of the people. 

While the Alabama was building in an English shix^-yard, 
it was a matter of public notoriet}^ that she was intended 
for JelT. Davis' government. The American Minister at 
London, and the American Consul at Liverpool, both pro- 
tested against having her leave on her piratical mission. 
Yet she was allowed to depart, and was five days at sea 
before orders were given to prevent her departure from 
the British port. She was allowed to enter British ports 
in Wales and Jamaica to take in supplies. Her crew 
were from, the " royal naval reserves." Her arms and na- 
val supplies were British. Even in the House of Commons 
this act was cheered by the members, who wished to anni- 
hilate the Republic of the United States. John Bright de- 
nounced this act of the Tory government in the following- 
language, thps : " We supply the ships ; we supply the 
arms, the munitions of war ; we give aid and comfort 
to the foulest of crimes. Englishmen only do it." 

This act of the government was deemed unlawful by 
eminent English statesmen" and jurists. 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 325 

Probably the amount of individual losses will amount to 
about $30,000,000, besides the damage done to American 
commerce by transferring the American carrying trade to 
British merchants. An Englishman makes the following 
confession, thus : 

" Were we the sufierers, we should certainly demand 
compensation for the loss of the property captured or de- 
stroyed, for the interest of the capital invested in the ves- 
sels and their cargoes, and, maybe, a fair compensation in 
addition for all and any injury accruing to our business 
interests from the depredations upon our shipping.*" 

We should receive compensation for the loss which ac- 
crued in consequence of the exorbitant rise of insurance 
of American vessels — in consequence of the additional rise 
in consequence of British piratical vessels; the loss of the 
canying trade ; the diminution of American tonnage ; the 
diminution of exports and imports ; for the transfer of 
American carrying trade to British merchants. The 
amount of money expended in prolonging the war ; com- 
pensation for the life of our soldiers during the war ; the 
amount expended in arms and munitions of war by land and 
sea ; the amount paid to the army and navy, both in pay 
and pensions; this, and the insult to the national flag 
should be paid, sooner or later. By the aid thus rendered 
by the government of England to the Confederates, the 
American war was prolonged for three years. England 
should pay the whole expense of the war those three years, 
which can be figured up at the war office at Washington. 
No impartial mind will deny that the war was made on the 
United States from the shores of England. Indeed, it 
W0ul4 be better for the United States that England had 



326 THE IKISH REPUBLIC. 

joined the rebellion, as it would unite north and south and 
the war would have ended sooner. 

In 183T, while the patriots in Canada were fighting for 
independence, the President of the United States, Van 
Buren, and the Governor of Nevv^ York, had issued procla- 
mations enjoining strict neutrality. Notwithstanding all 
this, a party of armed men from the Canadian side came 
over on the American shore and cut from her moorings the 
steamboat Caroline, and set her on fire aiid then seiit Her 
over the falls of Niagara. This was'reciprocatirig tlie good 
faith of the United States' wiffi' a vehg^eahce. 'This%as tHe 
way England observed flie neutrality laws. ' 

Thi s was not the billy instailce ' of the ' bad faith of the 
government df England 'tdwafd'the'UnUed States^ for^'noi- 
withstandiri^'ihe'tetM^ of tlife'ti^eatj^'df pe'ace'bf 1783, En- 
gland reftisb^ 't6 'delYVbr iip' certain 'mili'tary'posts^^ in tlie 
w^estV iaiid heTd'fdr 'a loiig time a large'portion of ' the wes't- 
&t\l couiiti-y, contrary lb the teriiis of the 'said treaty. En- 
gland al'sb' iiicited,ai'd6d,and' dbetted the iilui'del'bus IndT- 
afig ill' the '-^i^est'' 'to' ''cbiMiWt' wKblesale' ' m&ys^'cres ' On the^ 
Whites' dn the "fi^bntibf V '^hS ^^eltfeV^ tfeiii in her' foM 
while they ^perpetrated thbif fiei'cb ' atild ■ blbbdy" de'6lis bf 
midnight' sianghtbr ahddesblatibhf ' '' . - " 'i '"'"■ 

* ]?nl866 and l8Y0,'tilie govei^nhieht bf the United States 
pi^ve'nted the ■Fefniaiife froitf'iii¥^liiiig OatiMa: In liSTd 
the United States penkitte'd'Bri'ti&h'arrrted Vessels to sail 
through' the Sau'It St. Marie canal ■ on th'^ir Wdy to 'lii^kk' 
war on' tihe half'breeds of the He'd KiVer. ^ ' ¥bt; iri the '^^el■y' 
saMe year^ 1'87'Oy the ■ Gariadiali gOTeniment prevented'thb 
Unified' ' States ' ti'O'ops ' frbm pasgifig" lihrOtlgh the Cahadiah' 
candid; "The British go^^rnm-eHt 'lias^lievet cbhipensated or 



THE IKISH REPUBLIC. 327 

given satisfaction for the burning of the Caroline. This 
claim and insult should be added to the Alabama and 
other claims, which must be paid, unless Grant turns traitor. 

The United States ought not to take anything less, in satis- 
faction of those claims, than all the British possessions of 
North America, including the British West India posses- 
sions. This is not unjust or unreasonable. For it is better 
for England to yield up those possessions, as she will have 
enough to do to take care of her other possessions in other 
parts of the globe. The United States should enforce the 
Monroe doctrine north and south — in Canada as well as in 
Mexico. The United States cannot tolerate monarchy on 
the continent of North America, for her manifest destiny 
is the "Ocean bound Republic" — "From polar seas to 
torrid climes"- — From the Iceland moss to the orange 
groves of the south ! America should make war on mon- 
archy all over the world ! 

The destiny of the United States is to govern, first, the 
continent of North America, and, next, the whole American 
continent from the Northern to the Southern Ocean, and 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The future capital of th^ 
United States will be on the very spot where stood the 
palace of Montezuma. If Grant and the Senate should be 
so base as to ratify the treaty made by the present commis- 
sion, it will be one of the meanest, weakest, and most con- 
temptible acts of folly and national and individual coward- 
ice known in the history of the United States. It will be 
far more odious than the acts of the Blue Light Federalists, 
or the Tories of the Revolution of 1776 ! For then, many 
of the Tories were educated to believe in the " divine right 
of kings." But Grant and many of the leading Republi- 



328 tSE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

cans have been educated to ridicule this idea as absurd. 
How many Radicals have listened to the seductive and 
charming influence of British lords. Now we find many 
of the Radicals opposed to making war on England. But 
Grant, at least, should remember that he was raised to his 
present position for no other qualification than that he had 
been a Union general. He knows that British arms and 
gunpowder were employed to maim and murder Union 
soldiers. If for no other reason he should not give his sanc- 
tion to such a settlement of the Alabama claims as would 
make the Queen of England, the President of Switzerland, 
the King of Italy, the King of Denmark, or even the 
Great Bear of Russia, arbiters in the affairs of America, 
whether in the Alabama claims or any other question. , We 
do not want foreign interference. What have the monarchs 
of Europe to do in this matter ? Why should not England 
pay these just claims. A few years ago, she was red hot 
for war ; now, when she finds herself in danger of being- 
involved in a European war, she wants to make some kind 
of a bogus settlement. She wants to dodge the question. 
But we may here remark that there has been always, in the 
United States, a party who admire the British Constitution, 
with kings, lords and commons. Those weak-minded flunk- 
ies have, at all times, lionized everything British, every- 
thing pertaining to monarchy. For some brainless fool 
with little or no cash in his pockets, can get wined and 
dined by the American codfish and shoddy aristocracy; 
by men who would whip a flea from Maine to Georgia 
for a dollar! This class will never want to make war on 
England. Those who proclaim it on the "house-tops,'"' 
the great honor, glory, and renown of the Anglo-Saxon 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 329 

race will never want to make war on England. Those who 
tell us that America has inherited her language, laws, cus- 
toms, religion and civilization from the " cradle of liberty," 
will not want to make war on England. Those whose only- 
god is the almighty dollar, who would barter the liberty of 
the world for British gold, will never want to make war on 
England. The only party that will ever make war on Eii^ 
gland is the party that always advocated the rights of the 
people — that party of the JefFersonian and Jackson schooL 
The radical party will do nothing without filthy lucre, and 
the spoils of office and political plunder. They care little 
for country or party unless they see something more sub- 
stantial than mere glory, honor or patriotism. They want 
something more for the comfort of the ''inner man," and a 
share of this world's goods. 

They want gold, gold. Well, the government of En- 
gland has been always lavish in the expenditure of corrup- 
tion funds. It is to be hoped that British gold will not be 
able to control the adjudication of the Alabama claims. 
But the great mass of the American people should never 
feel satisfied unless the United States get the whole of the 
British possessions of North America, including the islands 
of the seas. Nature has formed the continent of North 
America for one government. What is the use of the term 
"• The United States of America," unless it embraces the 
whole continent? This is the spirit of the Monroe doc- 
trine. What title can England show for her possessions in 
America? Where are her title-deeds? Let history an- 
swer. The strong arm of the conqueror. Her possessions 
in North America belonged to other nations by the right 
of discovery. England has taken these countries away by 
42 



330 THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 

brute force. Then as a matter of right the United States 
have a better title to those countries than England. For 
nature has formed the United States for a great nation. 
Look at the map of North America, and it presents the ap- 
pearance of one great country. Its shores are washed by 
the greatest oceans in the world ; its interior is connected 
by ample rivers and fresh water lakes. The great Ameri- 
can rivers, the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, connect the 
interior with the gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic ocean. 
These rivers are fed by the snows of the Kocky Mountains, 
Thomas H. Benton once said that the United States owned 
all the waters of the Mississippi ; we may now also say that 
we own all the waters of the great lakes and their outlets, 
which would include the valley of the St. Lawrence. The 
United States should own all the country between Alaska 
and Washington Territory. 

The people of the other countries and the inhabitants of 
the islands of the sea, are anxious to be annexed to the 
-Republic of America. Mexico will in due time be an- 
nexed. In ten years from March the 4th, 18T3, the Ameri- 
can flag will float over every fort in North America, and 
the " islands of the sea.''^ It is to be hoped that the pres- 
ent Congress will not ratify any treaty that does not con- 
cede and embrace all of this. It is better for the English 
and other immigrants, and for the toiling millions of Cana- 
da, that the United States should own the whole continent. 
For it would give more employment to those who toil for 
a living in building new towns and cities and public works. 
It would also be throwing out a bone to worn-out and 
hungry politicians who could get territorial offices. For 
instance, Mexico is large enough for twelve new States. 



THE IRISH REPUBLIC. 331 

•^f^Ii, what a field for silver speculations ! If the United 

-States owned Mexico, the silver mines of that country 

-woald soon pay off the public debt. Again, we- say that 

■Hie Grant administration will be held responsible by the 

..American people, for the settlement of the Alabama 

-^claims, at the ballot box. There will be a Presidential 

-eZesUon in 1872. The people will hold the party in power 

" lo a strict accountability for the settlement of this ques- 

.tioa. Can the Senate dodge this question ? No, for the 

.people have passed on this question already. They under- 

rstand it It will not do to trifle with the people. It will 

^ie¥er do to call in the tyrants of Europe to settle the 

'■«la.mis of the United States against England. The people 

can govern themselves. We repeat once more, that there 

?.mO.'be a presidential election in 1872. Politicians, beware ! 



ERRATA. 

Page 6, line 18 from top, for she read " England." 

Page 18, line 1 from top, for Dermond read " Desmond." 

Page 18, lines 11 and 24 from top, for Dermond read " Dermod. 

Page 26, line 3 from top, for her read " its." 

Page 29, line 1 from top, for has read "have." 

Page 32, line 8 from top, for her read " England." 

Page 41, line 21 from top, for whatever read " which." 

Page 52, line 28 from top, for they read " she." 

Page 57, line 6, from top, for Jailors read "Jailers." 

Page 82, line 3 from top, for midnight read " day." 

Page 83, line 12 from top, for her read " the." 

Page S3, line 27 from top, for Dermond read " Dermod." 

Page 86, line 3 from top, for are read "is." 

Page 99, lines 11 and 13 from top, for wrought read " wrunff." 

Page 105, line 15 from top, after we, omit " will." 

Page 112, line 3 from top, after test omit " of." 

Page 113, line 5 from top, for her read " its." 

Page 234, line 10 from bottom, for goes read "go." 

Page 280, line 19 from top, for her read " its." 

Page 322, line 5 from top, for her read " English." 

Page 325, line 27 from top, after war, read " for." 



